FORMER RWANDAN MAYOR ARRESTED IN MALI

Arusha, December 4, 2001 (FH) - Former Rwandan mayor Paul Bisengimana was on Tuesday arrested in Mali for genocide, at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), official ICTR sources said. Bisengimana was mayor of Gikoro commune in Kigali Rural prefecture at the time of the 1994 genocide.

He is accused of conspiring with the former mayors of Bicumbi (also in Kigali Rural) Laurent Semanza and Juvénal Rugambarara to incite, plan and carry out the massacre of Tutsi civilians at Musha church and other localities in Gikoro and Bicumbi. Semanza iscurrently on trial before the ICTR. Bisengimana is charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, murder, extermination, torture, rape and other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity. He is also charged with war crimes under the Geneva Conventions. ICTR spokesman Kingsley Moghalu said this was the tenth ICTR arrest of a Rwandan genocide suspect this year. Arrests have been carried out both in Africa and in Europe. Apart from Bisengimana, two of the others have not yet been transferred to the Tribunal: musician Simon Bikindi, who is in The Netherlands; and former army officer Aloys Simba who is in Senegal. JC/DO/FH (AR1204e)

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