Congo army battles war criminal's militia

Heavy clashes erupted this week between Congo's army and a militia founded by a war criminal convicted at the International Criminal Court but later released, both sides said, and one civil society activist put the civilian death toll at 19.

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Thomas Lubanga, an Ituri native, told Reuters in March that he was forming the Convention for the Popular Revolution (CPR) to topple the regional government, creating another potential security threat in war-scarred eastern Congo where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have also seized significant territory.

At the time, the group had not launched military operations, he said.