Killer of Botswana soldier on trial at ICC

Major Gaolathe Tiro of Manyana was killed in September 2007 while serving in the African Union Peace Keeping Force in Darfur. The 40-year-old soldier was a pilot in the army. He joined the BDF in 1993. He died in Sudan together with nine other soldiers from Senegal, Mali and Nigeria after their base was overrun by rebel forces in Haskania, Sudan.

Last Monday, Abu Garda the commander of the rebel group that allegedly killed the peace-keepers appeared before the ICC in the case that is now known as the Prosecutor versus Bahr Idriss Abu Garda. The ICC said Abu Garda arrived voluntarily in the Netherlands. His case is the first where the ICC judges issued a summons to appear rather than a warrant of arrest.