Category: News

{{Zimbabwe government has finally admitted that one of the most wanted Genocide fugitives, Protais Mpiranya, could be living on their territory.}}

Prosecution Spokesman Alain Mukuralinda told IGIHE that Rwanda is aware of the latest news on Mpiranya.

“ICTR still retains Mpiranya’s dossier. We are ready to collaborate with ICTR if they request us to do so.”

Mukuralinda urged other countries hosting suspects of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi’s in Rwanda to arrest and hand them over for trial.

The Zimbabwean Police Commander for CID Homicide, Chief Supt. Peter Magwenzi said September 17, Mpiranya was believed to be using various names that include Theophase Mahuku and James Kakule to evade arrest.

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Boubakar Jallow, has repeatedly said that there were signs the former commander of the notorious ex-Rwandan Presidential Guard was in Zimbabwe.

Mpiranya is wanted on a warrant issued by ICTR, and is one of the subjects of the US Reward for Justice Program, with a US$5 million bounty on his head.

Mpiranya formerly commanded Habyarimana’s Presidential Guard, a unit believed to have taken immediate charge, after the death of former President Juvenal Habyarimana on the night of April 6, 1994, and is blamed for murder of top politicians during the Genocide against the Tutsi.

Among the politicians that were killed was then Prime Minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana and her security detail of 10 Belgian peacekeepers, a few hours after the downing of Habyarimana’s plane blamed on extremist elements within his party and military.

The attack on the former premier’s home is said to have been led by Mpiranya himself.

Jallow wrote to the UN Security Council last week saying there were difficulties in apprehending Mpiranya, calling upon Zimbabwe to prevent the Genocide fugitive from evading justice.

The prosecutor said they had requested for cooperation and assistance from Harare in bringing the top fugitive to justice.

Unconfirmed reports have previously indicated that Mpiranya was facing protection from some senior officials within Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-FP.

The country has persistently distanced itself from claims of harbouring Mpiranya.

Zimbabwe’s Immigration Principal Director, Clemence Masango, had earlier told the country’s parliamentary committee for Defence and Home Affairs that;

“Yes this has been topical in the local and international media. All efforts have been made to check on this allegation. We have no record within our systems of this person whether on a permit or refugee. The only refugee camp we have is Tongogara and everyone there is documented.”

“Interpol has written to us and enquired officially through local police structures. Investigations have been carried out and this person (Mpiranya) has not been found and police are on record saying they have not been able to find that person in Zimbabwe but their investigations are still underway. That is what I can say on that.”

Mpiranya is accused of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

He remains at large and is one of the most wanted men by the UN-backed tribunal.

Alongside powerful figures such as convicted génocidaire Theoneste Bagosora, Mpiranya is accused of participating in the planning, preparation and execution of a plan to exterminate the Tutsi in Rwanda.

With the ICTR currently in the process of winding up its business, atleast nine fugitives, including Mpiranya, remain at large. Others include alleged financier of the Genocide, Felicien Kabuga, believed to be hiding in Kenya, former defence minister Augustine Bizimana, Fulgence Kayishema (his case was referred to Rwandan judiciary), Aloys Ndimbati, Ladislas Ntaganzwa, Charles Ryandikayo, Pheneas Munyarugarama and Charles Sikibwabo, whose file has also been referred to Rwanda for trial.

The trio, Mpiranya, Kabuga and Bizimana, are generally regarded as the ‘big fish’ by ICTR and several officials at the tribunal have stated their wish for the 17-year old court to try these men before folding business.

As part of the completion mechanism of the tribunal, the International Residual Mechanism was instituted mid this year to take on any remaining cases until the end of 2014, when all activities are expected to be concluded.

{{The African Union-initiated Regional Task Force (RTF), established to hunt down the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels, on Tuesday received 2,000 soldiers from the Ugandan army (UPDF) and 500 from South Sudan army (SPLA).}}

The 2,500 troops were handed over to RTF at their base in Yambio, the provincial capital of South Sudan’s Western Equatoria state.

Abou Moussa, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General, said the handover of the additional troops signal the RTF’s collective efforts to put an end to the activities of the LRA, which has caused untold suffering to populations in affected countries.

In March this year, four African countries, with the backing of the UN and the AU officially launched a joint military task force aimed at pursuing the LRA rebels and its elusive leader, Joseph Kony.

The first batch of the RTF initially comprised of about 5,000 soldiers from Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Central Africa Republic (CAR) initially made up the first batch of the RTF.

These are nations that have been greatly affected by over two-decade of the LRA insurgency.

Mousa, also the Head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), which coordinates UN efforts to address the threat posed by the LRA, further lauded efforts and commitment of these countries towards ending the insurgency, despite other pressing national priorities.

He pledged the UN’s continued support to the African regional body and other partners, in the implementation of the regional strategy against the LRA, which was adopted by the UN Security Council on 29 June 2012.

Moussa, who was on a two-day visit to South Sudan, however, emphasized the need for quick implement the strategy, if the RTF is to achieve its mandate against the LRA problem.

The UN, he acknowledged, have been very instrumental in addressing the threat posed by the LRA, specifically citing the UN Mission for Stabilization in Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) and the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), which provide support to national authorities in the two countries in their responses to the LRA.

“The UN Peacekeepers have been offering military escorts and patrols in and around villages and towns where the LRA has been seen, thereby maintaining a level of security that has saved lives”, said Moussa, in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune.

Meanwhile, the AU Special Envoy for the LRA issue, Francisco Madeira, said the RFT, despite making some progress, still faces logistical, material and financial resource challenges, which limits their operations.

The event comes barely a week after 360 soldiers of the Forces Armées Centrafricaines (FACA) were handed over to the AU on 12 September, in CAR, while additional troops are also expected from the DRC in the near future.

Residents of Ngororero sector in Ngororero district have mobilised over Frw30million as their contribution to the Agaciro Development fund.

The money was raised at an event September 18 in Ngororero.

Mukaneza Clotirde an official of Ngororero district thanked the residents and encouraged them to continue their contributions to the Agaciro fund as a way of upholding their Value as citizens.

{{The EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Finance and Administration Mr. Jean Claude Nsengiyumva(see Photo above) has expressed the Community’s appreciation for the continuous support from the Development Partners to the EAC.}}

Nsengiyumva made the remarks at The 16th Steering Committee Meeting of the EAC Partnership Fund September 17 at the Dar es Salaam Serena Hotel in Tanzania.

He added that a lot of progress had been achieved through the Partnership Fund which had become an important budgetary support mechanism to the main EAC budget.

He said the support from the Development Partners had been a key factor in assisting the EAC to move closer to attaining its goal of regional integration and that “commitment and effective management had led to more confidence from all the stakeholders”.

The 16th Steering Committee Meeting is being attended by senior officials from the Ministries of EAC Affairs from the Partner States, Development Partners representatives from Germany, Japan, Denmark, France, Belgium, Finland, Norway, USA, Sweden, European Union, UK-DFID, Canada.

The EAC Head of Resource Mobilization, Dr. James Njagu said the Partnership Fund is a model Fund which had attracted a lot of interest and admiration due to its effective management and achievements and that the EAC Secretariat is reassuring the Development Partners and the people of East Africa that the Secretariat will continue to implement best practices to ensure the Fund achieves its objectives.

{{Court has granted two months to Genocide suspect Leo Mugesera to prepare for his trial.

Mugesera had requested court to delay his trial for six months a period which he said would allow him to read through a document of 40,000pages.}}

Mugesera provided to court a list of many reasons why he needed the period of six months.

He included among the reasons as unclear and missing pages in the document, he also requested for the original hard copy of the document.

Mugesera’s lawyer, Jean-Felix Rudakemwa, noted, “We filed a suit in the Supreme Court of which we are waiting for a decision. But also, the dossier we received from the prosecution had some missing pages which the prosecution gave us recently and we haven’t reviewed all of them”.

The Defence also pointed out that one of the reasons why they request an adjournment is that from pages 610 to 646 of the case file are not visually clear and that they need a prosecutor to work with on the unclear part.

“We also request the prosecution to translate the 1,700-page dossier from Kinyarwanda to English and French so that Mugesera’s foreign lawyers can read and understand it.

We also want the prosecution to give us a hard copy of the Canadian dossier which is 40,000 pages,” lawyer Rudakemwa requested Judge Athanase Bakuzakundi.

{{An official of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) based in Arusha-Tanzania has noted that Rwanda should host the archives of the trial proceedings when the international court winds up in 2014.}}

“But the decision on the destiny of the archives shall be taken by the UN Security Council,” said Pascal Besnier, the acting Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Besnier made the remarks while in Kigali at a Press conference jointly held by Rwanda’s Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga.

He also said ICTR had established a documentation centre on international criminal justice, and the fact that most of the key rulings can be accessed online.

Ngoga said, “We may not get 100 per cent of our bargain, but something shall be gotten. It may be a win-win situation”.

{{Genocide Suspects hiding in the Britain will soon be brought to Rwanda for trial, The National prosecution has announced saying the previous impediments have been removed.}}

Martin Ngoga the Prosecutor General has said that a British court has provided reasons why Britain had previously not cooperated in the arrest and deportation to Rwanda of suspects of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Ngoga says, Rwanda finds reasons listed by the British Court as nolonger existing in the Rwandan Judicial system.

“We are talking to the British Judiciary to revise the reasons on their list and consider having perpetrators tried or deported to rwanda.”

The 1994 genocide against Ethnic Tutsi’s claimed about a Million lives. Most of the perpetrators are scattered allover the world.

Most countries had argued that they didn’t believe in Rwanda’s Judicial system which they said wasn’t competent enough lacked.

However, a few years ago, several suspects have been transferred from International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha,Tanzania to be tried in Rwanda where they committed such heinous crimes.

Reports from Uganda indicate that dozens of passengers have died in an accident involving Horizon Bus that occured in the early morning hours of September 18.

Its not yet established whether there were any Rwandan nationals.

Uganda Police said the accident occurred in sharp corners of Malongo in Rwengo district about 96 kilometers from Mbarara after a Kisoro-Kampala bound Isuzu bus registration number UAM 937D belonging to Horizon Bus Company swerved off the road, overturned and burst into flames.

Police said the accident occurred at about 3.00am but the exact number of the dead was still unclear as eye witnesses said it was still difficult to count the dead since many had been burnt to ashes.

At least 45 passengers out of the 75 on board had been rescued from the wreckage and those with injuries were rushed to various hospitals and health centers including Masaka, Lyantonde, Lwengo and Mulago in Kampala.

Police fire fighters arrived at the scene and dowsed the fire that broke out immediately the bus overturned.

The scene was still filled with smoke and stench from the burning bodies as traffic along this route temporarily came to a halt.

Police said the driver of the bus was over speeding, lost control in a sharp corner forcing the vehicle to veer off the road.

Rescuers that included the police and villagers were still removing out burnt bodies.

{{Police in Gicumbi district is holding a woman for burning the private parts of her husband identified as Gakuru Céléstin.}}

Menyuwawe Grâce claimed she was influenced by Satan because the world is in the final days. She didn’t explain in details.

Neighbours say Menyuwawe and her daughter attacked Gakuru who later hid under the bed where they pushed burning fire wood injuring his chest and private parts.

The incidence happened September 12, in village of kanaba, gatwaro in Rutare Sector in Gicumbi district.

Menyuwawe whose age wasn’t established is said to have five grandchildren and neighbours allege she has been a source of trouble in her home.

Neighbours told IGIHE that menyuwawe is fond of tormenting the husband whereby she sells family property and uses the money to consume alcohol and smoking.

They added that she was under the influence of alcohol by the time she burnt Gakuru.

Local areas asked Gakuru on September 13 to go to Gicumbi hospital for treatment before the wounds would get deeper into the body.

{The USAID-supported LAND Project will hold a National Land Research Agenda Workshop on September 24-26th, 2012 at the Umubano Hotel.}

It will be Co-hosted by the Rwanda Natural Resources Authority, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Justice, the event will bring together Government of Rwanda partners, research institutes and universities, and civil society organizations to identify critical research priorities for informing the direction of land policy.

The workshop will apply a participatory process to glean the most urgent and potentially impactful policy research, which in turn will be used to frame research topics that the LAND Project will support through competitive subawards.

Planned activities for the workshop include presentation of recent, policy-relevant empirical research on land, structured discussions in plenary and small group sessions, and harvesting and debating research priorities with the aim of selecting 3-4 research priority proposals for support by the LAND Project. Organization and facilitation of the workshop will be led by the Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace.

“Through hosting a workshop dedicated to establishing the most critical land-related policy research priorities, the LAND Project will have the basis for supporting Rwanda-led research on these priorities through competitive subcontracts.

These awards will also enable local institutions to collaborate with international partners to strengthen Rwandan capacity to produce top-notch research,” said Anna KNOX, Chief of Party of LAND Project.

The LAND Project is committed to strengthening the resilience of Rwandan communities, citizens and institutions through expanding the pool of high quality, evidence-based research on land issues which can inform land policy.

To achieve this aim, the project seeks to build the capacity of local research entities and civil society organizations to generate policy research related to land and advocate effectively for continuous adaptation of policy in the interest of ordinary Rwandan citizens.