Kigali is "hoping" that authorities in France arrest and extradite a top Genocide suspect recently found to be living there.

This comes after a French newspaper, Mediapart, recently revealed the presence in France of Col Aloys Ntiwiragabo, a mastermind of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

Prosecutor General Aimable Havugiyaremye told The New Times that "we hope" that the relevant authorities in France will respond positively.

"After his whereabouts were confirmed we updated his case file and subsequently sent an international arrest warrant and an extradition request to France," Havugiyaremye said.

According to the Prosecutor, up to 25 witness accounts are recorded all pining the suspect in his role in the massacres 26 years ago.

"There is good will in France to follow up these cases, in a special manner. Teams of investigators are coming here in September and October to conduct their own investigations. But even before the Covid-19 pandemic started, other teams or regulatory commissions, investigators who come to work from the ground were here."

Its new report, early August, the French paper indicated that the former head of Rwandan military intelligence and founder of the DR Congo-based FDLR militia entered France using false papers in 2001 when Hubert Vedrine, a politician familiar with the "Rwanda file" was a Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Mediapart noted Ntiwiragabo requested asylum in February 2020, as if he entered France this year, yet sources in his neighbourhood revealed that he started living in the area 14 years ago.

Preliminary investigation over crimes against humanity started in France on July 24, in the case of Ntiwiragabo, 71, who was found hiding in Orléans, a city in north-central France, following lengthy investigations by Mediapart.

Théo Englebert, the investigative journalist who authored the stories by the french publication on August 10, told The New Times that "we discovered that Aloys Ntiwiragabo moved near Orleans in 2006."

According to Englebert, Ntiwiragabo only applied for asylum in February 2020, 14 years after his arrival in France; all which are facts contradicting the story presented by his lawyers.

As earlier reported, from Orléans, Ntiwiragabo's sphere of influence stretched 240 kilometres away to Rouen, capital of the northern French region of Normandy, where he is kingpin in an anti-Rwanda government extremists' network.

For their activities there, Rouen earned the infamous tag of the "European capital of genocidaires," as previously reported by online publication, Le Poulpe.