ICC court launches fund for Central Africa victims of Bemba militia

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has launched a one-million-euro ($1.18-million) fund for victims of a militia once run by former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba, it said on Wednesday. The fund - announced after Bemba was acquitted on war-crimes charges - will be dispensed to people who suffered at the hands of Bemba militia in the Central African Republic (CAR), the ICC's director in CAR, Mike Cole, told a press conference.
The serious crimes committed in CAR "have not been forgotten," he said. The violence took place over five months in 2002-2003, at a time when the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was in the grip of a war that sucked in neighbouring countries.