Rwandan war crimes suspect found in France
Paris, Sunday
An investigative French media house has located, after seven months of careful investigation, a man who allegedly played a central role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, hiding in a city in north-central France.
‘Maj Gen’ Aloys Ntiwiragabo, 71, who is hiding in the suburbs of Orléans, did not only play a part in the massacres of the Tutsi 26 years ago.
Over two decades ago, when he was a Colonel, the idea to form the terrorist FDLR militia was his along with Hyacinthe Rafiki, another genocidaire and former Minister of public works.
Mediapart, the French media house, reports that the former Rwandan spy and one of the alleged architects of the 1994 Genocide was not about to be arrested since the international justice system gave up on his prosecution.
The revelation of his whereabouts comes barely two months after another top Genocide architect, Félicien Kabuga, was arrested on May 16 in Asnières-sur-Seine, in France.
Extremely discreet
Theo Englebert, the author of the story by Mediapart, on Friday, July 24, told The New Times that “Ntiwiragabo is extremely discreet.”
Englebert added: “It took us several days of observation to understand his routine.
The approach is not easy because he is very suspicious, even on the two-minute journey between his home and the church.”
By going through the reports of Rwandan associations founded in France one by one, Mediapart first found the trace of Catherine Nikuze, his wife, who it said first set foot in France on March 3, 1998 and obtained asylum on September 22, 1999.
The following year, it is noted, the wife moved with her two children to a dismal suburb of Orleans where, without making waves, she quickly took part in the activities of extremists in exile.
Catherine Nikuze was naturalised in 2005 and took the name Tibot.
As reported, outside the HLM building in the suburbs of Orleans where Ntiwiragabo took refuge, only the name Tibot appears on the intercom.
But on the couple’s letterbox in the hall, three names appear: Nikuze, Tibot and Ntiwiragabo.
More information
Englebert told The New Times that they do not yet have more information on the real situation of Ntiwiragabo in France.
What they know, he said, is that “he lives in the modest apartment of his wife, who was naturalized as French in 2005, and that he has identity documents in his name.”
“What is extremely disturbing is that Major-General Ntiwiragabo has visited diplomatic representations of France on several occasions without encountering any difficulties and that he met French judge Jean-Louis Bruguière two months after one of those visits.”
“When this happened, the foreign affairs minister was Hubert Védrine. He was the secretary-general of the presidency in 1994.
Did he know anything about any of this?” Etienne Nsanzimana, the president of Ibuka- France, on Friday issued a statement calling on authorities in France to arrest the man. - AFP
