A protected witness testified at the International Criminal Court (ICC) entirely in closed session on Thursday.

While his role was not disclosed, he spoke very briefly about the Ituri conflict in open court on Wednesday before the proceedings adjourned.

“When I set up my activities in [Ituri] in 1998 … there was latent conflict there, a conflict brewing,” the witness said. “In 1999, the conflict was flamed up. A governor was designated in Ituri and this compounded the problems.”

That governor, Adele Lotsoye Mugisa was an ethnic Hema and appointed by the Ugandan army, which occupied Ituri from 1999-2003. Mugisa was later appointed minister of finance in Thomas Lubanga’s Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), which was also ethnic Hema.

It is unclear whether the witness will continue testifying on Friday.