Sarkozy aide accused of shielding Genocide fugitive

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s chief of Staff, Claude Guéant, could have assisted Genocide suspect Dr. Eugène Rwamucyo to acquire a French resident permit, a French Online newspaper Rue89 has uncovered. A hospital in Maubeuge, northern France, recently suspended Rwamucyo after discovering that he appeared on Interpol’s wanted list in connection with the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. “Wanted by Interpol, Eugene Rwamucyo would have benefited from the support of Claude Guéant to regularise his presence in France,” the Rue89 story reads. Claude Guéant, 64, has been President Sarkozy’s Chief of Staff since 2007 and is a member of the conservative, Union for a Popular Movement (UMP). “He would have benefited from support in high places to regularize his presence in France,” the paper reveals.It is also stressed that at the time (2005) when Rwamucyo sought to acquire the resident permit, Guéant served as Sarkozy’s Director of Cabinet. Describing Rwamucyo as “a planner of massacres known by historians,” the paper also highlights most of his activities during the Genocide. Rue89 notes that after the fall of the genocidal regime, Rwamucyo went to the Ivory Coast where the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) denied him refugee status because of the allegations against him. It notes that the fugitive’s refugee request was again turned down in 2002 by the French Refugee body (OFPRA) and the Board of Appeals, at the time he was residing in France. “Despite these damning facts, Eugene Rwamucyo enjoyed total impunity since his arrival in France. Further still he has been very active, participating in various seminars and conferences which denounce the current regime in Kigali. While campaigning for a replay of the Rwandan genocide,” says the French paper. Apart from Rwamucyo, the paper goes on to highlight other similar cases in France, including that of Sosthene Munyemana and former first lady, Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana, also suspected of being among the top masterminds of the Genocide. France’s top court – the State Council, recently snubbed her appeal for asylum but she continues to reside in the country. Ends

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Sarkozy aide accused of shielding Genocide fugitive