Today begins the trial of a Congolese militia leader, Thomas Lubanga, who is accused of committing the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, crimes against children. A prosector told the International Criminal Court today that Lubanga trained child soldiers to kill, pillage and rape.

Ethnic violence in the Ituri region between the Hema and Lendu, and clashes between militia groups vying for control of mines and taxation, have killed 60,000 people since 1999.

Lubanga, an ethnic Hema, is accused of enlisting and conscripting children under 15 to his Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) to kill rival Lendus in a 1998-2003 war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

ICC prosecutors say child soldiers recruited by the UPC were involved in hostilities between October 2002 and June 2003, and that some of them were forced to kill while others lost their lives in combat. The former soldiers have not adjusted to life well after their trauma; some of them are now using drugs to survive, others are prostitutes and many are jobless.

More than 30,000 children were recruited during the DRC conflict, many given marijuana and told they were protected by witchcraft, according to Bukeni Waruzi, the Africa and Middle East coordinator for human rights group Witness.