Rebel slipped out 'by mistake'
12/04/2006 13:38  - (SA)  

Want to know more? Answerit can help.

Hutu leader opposes deportation Burundi rejects Rwandans 'War criminal' arrested Rwandan lawyers protest bill Nations helping illegal trade Rwanda suspect may go to Norway Britain promises Rwanda $800m UN cannot judge DRC complaint Court 'needs more time'

Brussels - A mistake by Belgian border police allowed Rwandan rebel leader Ignace Murwanashyaka to slip through the country into Germany, Belgian police said on Wednesday.

Murwanashyaka was arrested in the German city of Mannheim last week.

Murwanashyaka, 42, is president of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an ethnic Hutu group whose armed units are accused of ongoing massacres in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He is fighting attempts by German authorities to deport him.

Belgian police spokesperson Els Cleemput said: "An officer made a human error."

She said Murwanashyaka landed at Brussels Zaventem airport en route from the Ugandan city of Entebbe, and slipped past Belgian passport controls into Germany.

Belgium's interior ministry is investigating how that country's border police failed to detect Murwanashyaka - five months after the United Nations security council slapped a travel ban on him, requiring member states to seize his assets and deny him entry or transit.

On Friday, a German judge ordered Murwanashyaka detained for three months in anticipation of his deportation.

On Monday, German federal prosecutors said they were considering an alternative of putting Murwanashyaka on trial in Germany under international criminal law.

What is this? Yahoo Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Brought to you by OUTsurance Car Insurance
	News24 Headlines on your Facebook profile		News24 on mobile