Gregoire Ndahimana, a Genocide fugitive who was arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Ndahimana’s transfer was announced yesterday evening in reports that quote statements from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Communications Minister, Lambert Mende. Ndahimana, a former Mayor of Kivumu, was arrested by Congolese forces on August 11. The former local government official is accused of planning and supervising the massacre of 2,000 Tutsi who had sought refuge in a church. By press time, Ndahimana’s transfer was yet to be confirmed by both the Rwandan government and the ICTR. While announcing the transfer, Mende is reported to have also called upon European countries that are still sheltering Genocide fugitives to emulate his country’s move and transfer them to the Tanzania-based court or extradite them to Rwanda. “You can’t pretend to bring help for the pacification of the Great Lakes region and also host facilitate the work of these people who are terrorizing eastern Congo,” said Mende. Before his transfer, it was rumoured that the DRC was trying to cash in on the US$5m bounty the U.S. offers under its ‘Rewards for Justice’ program for information leading to the arrest of a number of key Genocide suspects who remain at-large, of which Ndahimana was among. Ends
