ICTR, DRC clash over Genocide fugitive

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), has threatened to take the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the United Nations Security Council over the delayed extradition of a Genocide suspect arrested there. Gregoire Ndahimana, a top Genocide fugitive was arrested by DRC forces on August 11, in a village in North Kivu Province, but is yet to be handed over to the Arusha-based tribunal. He was arrested on an ICTR-issued warrant.In an interview with The New Times, Bocar Sy, the ICTR communication and press manager confirmed the development but could not specify exactly when the tribunal will forward the case to the UNSC in New-York. “It is true; we intend to report the DRC to the Council though we haven’t decided when. For the moment it is still diplomacy working but when this persists, we will have to report the case,” Bocar said. He said that the tribunal has communicated to the DRC about the delayed extradition but they (DRC) haven’t responded. Procedurally, a suspect is supposed to be booked in the ICTR detention facility within 72 hours upon arrest but it has gone up to three weeks. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the DRC is still holding onto to the suspect while negotiating the payment of the $5m bounty placed on of Ndahimana by the US Department of State under the ‘Rewards for Justice’ program. Other reports also suggest that the DRC is holding onto Ndahimana to use him as a bait for Rwanda to handover Gen. Laurent Nkunda. However, neither the ICTR nor Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama could confirm the reports. However Karugarama downplayed the rumour of exchanging Nkunda for Ndahimana, referring to it as speculation. “People have said that but we are not buying into it, there is no such arrangement,” Karugarama said over the phone. A close ally of former President Juvenal Habyarimana, Ndahimana is wanted for crimes of Genocide and Complicity in Genocide after years of hiding in the DRC. He is said to have been fighting alongside the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in eastern Congo. He is wanted by the ICTR as a Category 1 suspect, a rank reserved for the top planners and executors of the genocide that left over a million people dead. According to the ICTR, Ndahimana helped slaughter thousands in the former Kavumu commune which he headed during the Genocide. Ends

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ICTR, DRC clash over Genocide fugitive