afrol News, 9 October - Former Rwandan official and genocide suspect, nabbed in Frankfurt, Germany last month, has been returned to Arusha, Tanzania where he will come to face his fate.

Like his predecessors, some of whom have been given life in goal, Mr Augustin Ngirabatware, was yesterday transferred to Arusha, home of United Nations war crimes tribunal set up to deal with 1994 mass killings in small Great Lakes nation.

After a long marathon of man-hunt, a former Rwanda Minister of Planning, Mr Ngirabatware, was apprehended and will now face charges before tribunal, on nine counts for crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and extermination.

Mr Ngirabatware was initially charged together with his accomplice, former Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Jean Dieu Kamuhanda, who has already been convicted and given life.

Last month, tribunal handed down a life sentence to a former prosecutor found guilty of genocide, extermination and murder during 1994 killing spree.

ICTR's trial chamber found that Simeon Nchamihigo, former deputy prosecutor in Cyangugu Prefecture, instructed Hutu-dominated rebel group known as Interahamwe to seek out and kill Tutsis and moderate Hutus with the intent to destroy Tutsi ethnic group and accomplices of the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front.

Chamber also found that Mr Nchamihigo took part in attacks on refugee places, with some of massacres planned during meetings of the prefecture Security Council which he attended.

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has thanked German government for its arrest, detention and smooth transfer of accused to Arusha.

An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed - often by machete or club - during a 100-day period starting in early April 1994.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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