Top Rwandan genocide suspect arrested in DRC

ONE of nine top fugitive Rwandan genocide suspects, a former mayor accused of crimes against humanity, Ladislas Ntaganzwa, has been arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations has said.

Ntaganzwa is accused of organising “the massacre of thousands of Tutsis at various locations”, the United Nations backed Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) said in a statement issued yesterday, a day after the arrest.

“He was also alleged to have orchestrated rape and sexual violence committed against many women,” the statement said. No details of his arrest were given.

About 800,000 people – mostly members of the minority Tutsi community – were slaughtered in the 100-days of violence in 1994, largely by ethnic Hutus.

Ntaganzwa, 53, is expected to face trial in Rwanda on nine counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violating the Geneva Conventions.

The United States State Department, which offered a $5 million bounty for his arrest under its War Crimes Rewards Programme, lists Ntaganzwa as “one of the main instigators of the genocide” in Rwanda’s southern Butare district.

“Ntaganzwa is also accused of making speeches calling for the elimination of Tutsis in the region and facilitating the killing of Tutsi refugees,” the U.S. bounty notice adds.

Ntaganzwa was initially wanted for trial at the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, based in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha.