Congo Republic's exiled former Prime Minister Bernard...

Congo Republic's exiled former Prime Minister Bernard Kolelas vowed to try to return to his homeland soon despite a death sentence passed after he fled a bloody civil war.
Kolelas was sentenced in absentia by the administration of civil war victor Denis Sassou Nguesso, a former Marxist ruler who in late 1997 ousted President Pascal Lissouba and his unity government, set up weeks before with Kolelas as premier.
Kolelas denies the charges of torture, rape and kidnapping during the war, which derailed the oil-rich Central African state's presidential election.
The former Prime Minister, sentenced to death along with his cousin, former Interior Minister Philippe Bikikinta, said the verdicts were purely political and that the decision should be reviewed once he returned to Congo as neither of them had been represented in court. He said Congolese authorities should not fear any unrest at the time of his return.
Some 800,000 people - nearly a quarter of the country's population - fled their homes during fighting after militias loyal to him and Lissouba rose up in mid-1998.