Reuters AlertNet Lite - French warrants seek associates of Rwanda's Kagame

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French warrants seek associates of Rwanda's Kagame

23 Nov 2006 15:29:04 GMT
Source: Reuters

PARIS, Nov 23 (Reuters) - A top French judge has issued arrest warrants for nine associates of Rwandan president Paul Kagame over a 1994 plane crash that killed the country's president and sparked a genocide, a judicial source said on Thursday.

Anti-terrorism magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere issued the international warrants on Wednesday on charges of "murder" and "complicity in murder", the source said, adding one of the people targeted was the military's chief of staff.

Under French law the warrants, to be passed on by Interpol, mean the suspects have been placed under official investigation and now face questioning by the French judge.

Bruguiere earlier this week called for Kagame to be brought before a U.N. court, a move the Rwandan president has denounced as "bullying and arrogant".

Bruguiere has filed a document at the Paris prosecutor's office, citing evidence that Kagame, a Tutsi, and members of his military staff devised the operation to destroy Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane.

Habyarimana's plane was hit by a missile as he flew to the Rwandan capital Kigali after a summit in April 1994. His killing triggered the massacre of 800,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus in 100 days of bloodletting.

Kagame has said French judges have no authority over judges in Rwanda.

Under French law, a warrant cannot be issued for Kagame, who enjoys diplomatic immunity as a serving head of state. But a judicial source said Bruguiere had written to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan asking for Kagame to be brought before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Bruguiere issued warrants for James Kabarebe, military chief of staff; Charles Kayonga, army chief of staff; Faustin Nyamwasa-Kayumba, ambassador to India; Jackson Nkurunziza, a Ugandan working for the Rwandan presidential guard; Samuel Kanyamera, an FPR deputy; Jacob Tumwime, an army officer; Franck Nziza, a presidential guard officer; Eric Hakizimana, an intelligence officer; and Rose Kabuye, nee Kanyange, director general of state protocol.

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Last updated:Thu Nov 23 15:31:05 2006