DAKAR, May 2 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Democratic Republic of Congo's jailing of a warlord for sexual slavery shows it is cracking down on a longstanding culture of impunity, rights groups and lawyers said on Wednesday.
A military court in the central African country sentenced Lieutenant-Colonel Maro Ntumwa, nicknamed "Marocain", to 20 years in prison on Saturday for crimes he committed as head of a local militia from 2005 to 2007.
The prosecution was one of several that suggest the state is making a greater effort to hold people accountable for sex crimes after being pegged the "rape capital of the world", said Geneva-based legal group Trial International.
"I feel that concretely there has been a change of heart or at least more determination on the part of the government," said Daniele Perissi, head of the Congo programme at Trial International, which helped Ntumwa's victims build their case.