Can we better the hunt for Genocide fugitives?

The detention of Callixte Mbarushimana in Frankfurt, Germany, on July 7 is a welcome development on part of the international community’s responsibility to bring to justice the people who carried out the heinous crime of Genocide. It is important to highlight that this is the second time Mbarushimana has been detained for his role in the Genocide. In 2001 he was arrested while he worked for the United Nations in Kosovo. Mbarushimana, the Executive Secretary of the Genocidal FDLR, a group still working to advance its genocidal ideology was later released under unclear circumstances, he was awarded with twelve months pay for the period he was in detention. At that time he was working for the UN in Kososvo. The tragicomedy was how that ironic that a man who carried out Genocide, was working for the UN in Kosovo, to stop the massacre of Ethnic Albanians. The United Nations, the successor to the League of Nations was formed in the aftermath of World War II during which the Nazis sought to exterminate the Jewish people. The UN was expected to be a solution to the failures of the League of Nations. But it is telling that the UN would for many years have in its ranks an individual who abused its founding principles. Not only did he violate the principles on which the UN was founded, he went on to use its facilities to carry out genocide. Many of the characters that organised and carried out the Genocide have, in recent days, upped their divisive agenda and even recruited into their ranks European disciples. They have had support from the likes of Bruguerre and the Spaniard Merrelles, with revisionism as their driving goal. Furthermore, it is apparent that many of them continue to find sanctuary in Western capitals and have in recent years exported their murderous ways to other parts of the world, where they are known to hunt down Tutsis. It is appalling that many of these fellows still moving around are allowed to voice their views on different international platforms. It is interesting to compare what happened to many Nazis after World War II and what has become of the remnants of the genocidal forces in Rwanda. Many of the latter continue to move around countries, many of them openly without authorities in several countries raising a finger. Many Nazis went completely underground as they were ferociously hunted down. But even in hiding and after changing names, many were smoked out legally or sometimes through other means by the young Jewish state of Israel. The story of Adolf Eichmann’s arrest in Argentina in the early sixties is very compelling. He was a Nazi Lieutenant Colonel who was responsible for the mass deportation of Jews to concentration camps where they were exterminated. Under the guidance of the legendary former Mossad Chief Isser Harel, a detailed surveillance, capture and transfer of Eichmann from Argentina to Israel was carried out without any other government knowing about it until he was in custody in Israel. The arrest of Genocide suspects is very important for purposes of delivering justice to its victims. But equally important is that the capture of these men serves to protect the Rwandan people from what they are still planning. Capturing them is equivalent to defusing a time bomb.It is now more apparent than ever before that there are authorities out there who are willing to give succor to these extremists and even actively support them politically. They have used judicial powers to advance the politics of genocide on their behalf, as Judges Merrelles and Bruguerre have demonstrated. This implies that unconventional methods that were adopted by Israel like in the case of Eichmann may be more effective or even complimentary to the long legalistic procedures that always arise when seeking to extradite and prosecute the criminals who carried out genocide in Rwanda. Contact: frank2kagabo@yahoo.com