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'Butcher of Butare' caught in Kampala
Oct 6, 2009
One of the most wanted suspects in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Idelphonse Nizeyimana, has been arrested in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Department of State shows Idelphonse Nizeyimana. Interpol agents have arrested Nizeyimana, one of the most wanted suspects in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, a former top intelligence official accused of sending soldiers to execute the Rwandan queen, officials said Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/U.S. Department of State)
Photograph by:
" He is accused of ordering the execution of Queen Gicanda " Jacob Zuma
The former intelligence chief stands accused of organising the systematic killing of thousands of ethnic Tutsis - including the revered former Queen Rosalie Gicanda.
"He was in a hotel and our intelligence located him. Through Interpol the police identified him," said Ugandan police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba.
Elly Womanya, deputy director of Interpol Uganda said Nizeyimana was arrested on Monday morning following a tip-off. He did not resist arrest.
Interpol, the Ugandan authorities and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda worked together on the arrest, he said.
The UN sent a plane yesterday morning to fetch him and take him to Arusha, the Tanzanian town where the UN tribunal for Rwanda is based.
"He is in the custody of the ICTR," Roland Amoussouga, a spokesman for the tribunal said.
The police said Nizeyimana arrived in Uganda last week from Democratic Republic of Congo and may have been heading for Nairobi or Tanzania.
Since the recent thawing in Rwanda-DRC relations, Kinshasa has been under pressure to hand over to the ICTR any suspected organisers of the genocide it was harbouring.
Nizeyimana, nicknamed the Butcher of Butare, was serving as an intelligence officer in the Rwandan army in the university town of Butare at the time of the genocide.
He is wanted for genocide, complicity to commit genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide.
Nizeyimana is accused of having been one of the two leading organisers of the genocide in the southern town of Butare. He is also accused of having ordered the execution of Queen Rosalie Gicanda, the widow of King Mutara III and a figure revered by Tutsis.
The BBC reported on Tuesday that Hutu soldiers took the queen from her home in Butare and shot her behind the national museum. The soldiers also murdered several women who looked after the queen.
They returned the next day and shot her mother and pillaged her house.
Human Rights Watch said the murder of the queen, who had kept out of politics since her husband's death, alerted many Tutsis to the danger they faced.
The 1994 Rwandan genocide left an estimated 800000 Tutsis dead in the space of 100 days.
Oct 6, 2009
One of the most wanted suspects in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Idelphonse Nizeyimana, has been arrested in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Department of State shows Idelphonse Nizeyimana. Interpol agents have arrested Nizeyimana, one of the most wanted suspects in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, a former top intelligence official accused of sending soldiers to execute the Rwandan queen, officials said Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009. (AP Photo/U.S. Department of State)
Photograph by:
" He is accused of ordering the execution of Queen Gicanda " Jacob Zuma
The former intelligence chief stands accused of organising the systematic killing of thousands of ethnic Tutsis - including the revered former Queen Rosalie Gicanda.
"He was in a hotel and our intelligence located him. Through Interpol the police identified him," said Ugandan police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba.
Elly Womanya, deputy director of Interpol Uganda said Nizeyimana was arrested on Monday morning following a tip-off. He did not resist arrest.
Interpol, the Ugandan authorities and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda worked together on the arrest, he said.
The UN sent a plane yesterday morning to fetch him and take him to Arusha, the Tanzanian town where the UN tribunal for Rwanda is based.
"He is in the custody of the ICTR," Roland Amoussouga, a spokesman for the tribunal said.
The police said Nizeyimana arrived in Uganda last week from Democratic Republic of Congo and may have been heading for Nairobi or Tanzania.
Since the recent thawing in Rwanda-DRC relations, Kinshasa has been under pressure to hand over to the ICTR any suspected organisers of the genocide it was harbouring.
Nizeyimana, nicknamed the Butcher of Butare, was serving as an intelligence officer in the Rwandan army in the university town of Butare at the time of the genocide.
He is wanted for genocide, complicity to commit genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide.
Nizeyimana is accused of having been one of the two leading organisers of the genocide in the southern town of Butare. He is also accused of having ordered the execution of Queen Rosalie Gicanda, the widow of King Mutara III and a figure revered by Tutsis.
The BBC reported on Tuesday that Hutu soldiers took the queen from her home in Butare and shot her behind the national museum. The soldiers also murdered several women who looked after the queen.
They returned the next day and shot her mother and pillaged her house.
Human Rights Watch said the murder of the queen, who had kept out of politics since her husband's death, alerted many Tutsis to the danger they faced.
The 1994 Rwandan genocide left an estimated 800000 Tutsis dead in the space of 100 days.
