EX-MAYOR ORDERED CHURCH MASSACRE, SAYS WITNESS

Arusha, November 19, 2001 (FH) - Ex-Rwandan mayor Elie Ndayambaje ordered the massacre of Tutsis who had taken refuge in a church, a witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Monday. The fifth prosecution witness in the so-called Butare trial of six accused said the massacre took place in Mugombwa catholic church insouthern Rwanda, during the 1994 genocide.

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"The mayor came to the church. He showed us a photo of President Habyarimana and asked us if we recognized him," protected witness QAR told the court. "We said we did. Then he told us we were accomplices of theInkotanyi (Tutsi) and that we must be killed because the president had been killed by Inkotanyi. "Ndayambaje was mayor of Muganza in the southern Rwandan prefecture of Butare. He is being tried with five other former leaders accused of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Butare in 1994. Witness QAR told the court she was a Tutsi survivor who was 36 at the time of the genocide. She said she had had only five years of primaryschooling, and that she not remember the dates of alleged crimes. According to the witness, two grenades were thrown into the church after Ndayambaje had passed by. "The first time he came it was a Wednesday," she said. "On Thursday he came a second time and told the men there: 'I see you are busy eating the cows of the Tutsis. If they were to escape, how would you compensate them?'"QAR said that the accused then asked attackers if they had enough weapons, and went to get more for those who did not. She said Ndayambaje came back with machetes and axes, which he distributed to the attackers. They then used the weapons to massacre the Tutsis both inside and outsidethe church, according to the witness. QAR also said that "a liquid like petrol was poured inside the church" and it was then set on fire. She said she was unable to estimate the number of people who died at Mugombwa church. Ndayambaje's Canadian lawyer Pierre Boulé complained that the witness was not answering questions properly, even during examination in chief. He also raised several objections to questions by examining prosecutor Japhet Mono of Tanzania, saying they were "vague" or "leading". Boulé began cross-questioning the witness late Monday, and was to continue Tuesday. The other five accused in this trial are: former minister of Family and Women's Affairs Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, her son and alleged ex-militia leader Arsène Shalom Ntahobali, former mayor of Ngoma Joseph Kanyabashi, and two former prefects of Butare, Sylvain Nsabimana and Alphonse Nteziryayo. Witness QAR said Nteziryayo held a meeting at Muganza commune offices in June 1994, where he called on the population to exterminate Tutsi women and girls who had been spared by Ndayambaje on the grounds that they were "harmless". According to QAR, Nteziryayo told people that when you clean a house, you should do it properly, meaning that all Tutsis must be killed. The case is before Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR, composed of judges William Hussein Sekule of Tanzania, Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho. BN/JC/PHD/FH (BT1119E)