Genocide suspects arrested
2005-06-09 15:12
Bujumbura - Three Rwandan genocide suspects have been arrested after fleeing their country to seek refuge in neighbouring Burundi and are currently awaiting extradition, Burundian officials said on Thursday.
Attorney general Gerard Ngendabanka said the trio were detained under an agreement with Rwanda to return genocide suspects who have fled to avoid prosecution by local tribunals known as gacaca (pronounced "gachacha") courts.
"Rwanda gave us a list of people suspected of genocide crimes and who have fled into Burundi," he said. "We made the first arrests yesterday (on Wednesday) and others are going to follow."
More than 7 000 Rwandans, mainly Hutus, have fled the country since the gacaca courts began operating in March, sparking a row between Kigali and Bujumbura which initially said it would treat them as refugees.
Rwandan officials said those who had fled were fugitives from justice and demanded their return after which the two countries agreed on a programme to encourage their voluntary repatriation.
Thousands moved to prepare for their return
As part of that agreement, Burundi has moved thousands of Rwandans from the interior of the country to the Songore transit camp near the border to prepare for their return despite complaints from aid agencies that the facility is not equipped for such an influx.
The three detained Rwandans were arrested at Songore camp and are being held at the local prison in Ngozi province some 20km from the Rwandan border, according to a Burundian official.
"They are being held in Ngozi prison and are awaiting transfer to Rwanda," the official said on conditions of anonymity.
About 6 500 Rwandan asylum seekers are currently being held at Songore while another 700 have been settled in different camps across the country, according to the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Refugees.
Burundi officials said they hoped the arrest of genocide suspects at the camps would convince non-suspects who fear persecution in Rwanda to return home.
"We think that if we rid Songore of those wanted for genocide crimes, the (refugees) will be more willing to return," said Didace Nzikoruriho, an official with Burundi's interior ministry.
Many of those who have fled, and aid agencies that have interviewed them, insist they were not involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which some 800 000 people, mainly minority Tutsis as well as moderate Hutus, were massacred by Hutu extremists.