A fugitive Congolese warlord given a life sentence for crimes against humanity made a dramatic public appearance Tuesday more than five years after breaking out of jail, an AFP correspondent saw.
But it was not immediately clear what steps, if any, would be taken to return Kyungu Mutanga, alias "Gedeon", to custody in relation to his 2009 conviction on charges that also included war crimes, insurrection and terrorism.
Far from being paraded as a wanted criminal, Mutanga emerged in the southeastern city of Lubumbashi aboard an army jeep at a ceremony replete with dancers and singers held in his honour and attended by hundreds of police officers and soldiers outside the local legislature.
General Philemon Yav, in charge of the army in the region, said Mutanga was "under military surveillance" but was not being detained or under house arrest.
"I have come today to hand in my weapons," Mutanga told the crowd, saying he was complying with an appeal for armed groups to surrender issued by President Joseph Kabila, whose portrait emblazoned his tee-shirt.
"We want peace. I am not afraid of anyone, nor of the courts of my country," he said before leaving in the official car of the provincial governor, Jean-Claude Kazembe, who also attended the event.
Yav said it had taken a year of negotiations to get Mutanga to hand over his weapons, an act he described as a "victory for the Congolese people."
The general called on leaders of the dozens of armed groups active in the east of DR Congo to follow the warlord's "good example."
During DR Congo's second civil war, which raged between 1998 and 2003, Mutanga led a Mai-Mai self defence militia in what was then the Katanga province, of which Lubumbashi was the capital.
His arrest, conviction and a death sentence -- later commuted to life behind bars -- followed his refusal to surrender after that war.
He escaped prison in 2011 when the facility was attacked by heavily armed men.
Human rights activist Hubert Tshiswaka described the warlord's official reception in Lubumbashi as "deplorable" adding that "his place is in prison... we will do all we can to get him back there."
But Deputy Justice Minister Mboso Nkodia said, "given that (Mutanga) had surrendered, the state can pardon him."
"We need to give peace a chance."
