ICTR renews call for Kabuga, Mpiranyi arrest

ARUSHA - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) prosecutor, Hassan Bubacar Jallow, has once again called for cooperation from Kenya and Zimbabwe in the arrest of high level Genocide fugitives, Félicien Kabuga and Protais Mpiranya. In his statement to the UN Security Council, Jallow particularly called on Kenya, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to prevent the fugitives from evading justice. “I welcome the reactivation of the joint ICTR-Kenya Police Task Force since November 2010 on the Felicien Kabuga file and look forward to the assistance of the Government of Kenya in the tracking and arrest of this top-level fugitive,” Jallow said. Jallow’s call comes less than a month after the tribunal began conducting special deposition proceedings in the case against Kabuga, commonly referred to as the financier of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. He is charged with eleven counts which include; Conspiracy to Commit Genocide, Genocide, Complicity in Genocide, direct and Public Incitement to Commit Genocide. On Mpiranya, the Prosecutor noted that there remained difficulties in the tracking process of the fugitive, and requested for cooperation and assistance from the Zimbabwean government in that regard. He commended the DRC for the recent arrest of Genocide suspect, Bernard Munyagishari, and expressed optimism that with the continued cooperation of the DRC, the remaining nine fugitives will be apprehended. Jallow said that he is planning to file, in the months ahead, five additional requests for transfer of cases to national jurisdictions for trial. Ends