French Interior Ministry to decide Habyarimana’s fate

KIGALI - The fate of the former First Lady Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana will have to be decided by the French Interior Ministry. Speaking to The New Times, from Paris, the president of ‘Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda’ an advocacy group for Genocide survivors, Alain Gauthier said that the final decision on the fate of Mrs. Agathe Habyarimana lies in the hands of the French interior ministry. However, very little can be deduced about what will happen to the woman, among the top most wanted fugitives responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. It comes after a top French court on Friday threw out, Habyarimana’s appeal for asylum, a decision that the Rwandan government welcomed. “It is difficult to know what will happen now but several solutions may be envisaged,” Gauthier told The New Times on Saturday. One of those three scenarios envisaged is Habayarimana’s extradition to another country. “But which country, today, would dare welcome such a burdening guest? This solution, in part, would risk allowing her to evade justice. We cannot envisage such a decision,” Gauthier said. Another scenario may be Habayarimana’s extradition to Rwanda, however, that may also be far fetched since previous extradition requests have been turned down by the French judges. The third and which the Genocide survivor’s body would recommend, is that she is tolerated on French soil, but tried for Genocide crimes. “It is what we have asked for a long time.” “Let us await and see if there are reactions to the decision by the Counsel of State,” says Gauthier. According to Prosecution this development provides a ray of hope as the Government in Paris has been non-committal, making France a den of Genocide fugitives. Habyarimana’s battle for refugee status moved to Paris’ State Council after her request for asylum was in January 2007 turned down by France’s refugee office (OFPRA). For several years, Habyarimana sought refuge in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon until she returned to France in 1998, on a Gabonese passport. Ends

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French Interior Ministry to decide Habyarimana’s fate