Africa
Top Rwanda genocide suspect captured in Congo
Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila (R) and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame attend a meeting at the Congo-Rwanda border near Goma in eastern Congo, August 6, 2009. Authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo have arrested a man accused of planning the massacre of at least 2,000 Rwandan Tutsis during the 1994 genocide. REUTERS
Posted Wednesday, August 12 2009 at 17:42
In Summary
- Gregoire Ndahimana was arrested during a civilian operation in which he was caught by surprise.
- Ndahimana is wanted by the United Nations specialised genocide courts in Arusha, Tanzania as a Category 1 suspect
- Rwanda’s justice minister Tharcisse Karugarama said the arrest was the first of its kind in recent time.
Both sides agreed in January to work together to solve the problem of the FDLR, but since then, the new operations have brought attention mostly for the carnage and horror it has brought to the Congo’s civilian population.
Secretary Clinton’s visit to the region highlighted some of the worst: thousands raped – women, men, children, then elderly – by both the rebels and the Congo’s own army. Watchdog groups say 800,000 have been displaced in the east sine January, and nearly 1,000 killed as well.
Arrests like that of Ndahimana have been few and far between. The ICTR and Rwanda both claim that most of the remaining Category 1 suspects are hiding in the Congo.
One of the most sought-after suspects is Felicien Kabuga, a businessman accused of financing the genocide, thought to be hiding in Kenya.
The ICTR threatened in March to take the Kenyan government before the UN Security Council over its failure to help track down the fugitive. Kenya froze the kingpin’s assets later in the year but the decision is now under appeal.
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