KIGALI - Rights activists are alarmed by delays in setting up a special unit to investigate Rwandan Genocide fugitives living freely in France.

The Paris-based umbrella organization, Parties Civile pour le Rwanda (CPCR), which advocates for the rights of survivors of the 1994 Genocide of the Tutsi, was informed that the establishment of the unit will be discussed later this year.
Rights activists had hoped to see the unit set up and fully functional by the end of 2010.

"Initially, it was for 2010… we will continue to put pressure on French political authorities so that this unit is created, and has the means to function,” CPCR president, Alain Gauthier said.

France is said to be harbouring dozens of fugitives suspected to be responsible for the Genocide, including former First Lady, Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana.

An official in the French Justice Ministry notified CPCR that a bill to create the special unit in the Paris Court of High Instance will now be considered by Parliament in the course of 2011.

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