GATSIBO - The arrest and extradition to Rwanda, of Genocide fugitive, Augustin Nkundabazungu, by Ugandan authorities in collaboration with Interpol, has been welcomed by Genocide survivors in the former Murambi Commune (currently Gatsibo District), where he is alleged to have committed the crimes.

Nkundabazungu, born in Kiziguro in the former Murambi, was the ring leader of Interahamwe militias in the area and the mastermind of the Genocide in the region, according survivors of the Kiziguro Parish massacres.

67-year-old Mukamutara, a resident of Gishya Cell in Kiziguro Sector, recalled that on the night of 12 August, 1993, Nkundabazungu led a team of killers who claimed to be on a night patrol, and burnt her neighbour’s house accusing the deceased of backing the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF).

"He started his killing mission as early as 1992. He used to lead a huge group of militias who exterminated Tutsis in the area. The killings had been planned earlier,” she said.

Eric Hagenimana, another survivor, said that Nkundabazungu is infamously remembered by Kiziguro survivors as having chaired a planning meeting on April 9, 1994, to exterminate all Tutsis who had sought refuge at Kiziguro parish.

"He held a series of meetings with the then Murambi Mayor, Jean Baptiste Gatete, to kill Tutsis who had sought refuge at Kiziguro Catholic Church in 1994. He was seen leading a big team of the Interahamwe that killed Tutsi who took refuge inside the church,” Haginimana told The New Times.

The survivors have called for the fugitive to be tried and serve his sentence where he committed his crimes.

"I was near Kagitumba border last week when I witnessed Ugandan authorities handing over this ruthless killer. To me, as a survivor of his planned massacres in Kiziguro, I suggest that he faces the law in one of our courts in Gatsibo,” another survivor, Leoncia Mukagasana said.

Among other crimes, Nkundabazungu is accused of having rounded up 11 people he accused of being RPF collaborators in 1990 who were taken to Byumba and murdered.

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