05.02.09 - RWANDA/US - KIGALI LAUDS US-COLLEGE SUSPENSION OF GENOCIDE-ACCUSED RWANDAN PROFESSOR

Arusha, 05 February 2009 (FH) - Rwanda welcomed Wednesday the suspension by an American College of a Rwandan Professor, Leopold Munyakazi, accused of having taken part in the 1994 genocide.

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Professor Munyakazi, who taught French since September at Goucher College in Baltimore, has been suspended pending investigations.

 The Prosecutor General of Rwanda, Martin Ngoga, told Hirondelle Agency from Kigali that his country would follow up the issue with the US authorities to ensure that the accused faces justice. Rwanda will engage in talks with the US so that the fugitive does not escape justice," he stressed.

Currently, there is no extradition agreement between Rwanda and the United States.

According to the President of Goucher College, Sanford Ungar, the 59-year-old Professor Munyakazi, was subject of an indictment by Rwanda since 2006. Ungar, while being careful not to render judgment, explained that the charges were serious.

According to Andrew Dusabe, second Counseller at the Rwandan Embassy in Washington, Munyakazi was accused of having supervised road blocks where ethnic Tutsis were identified and killed during the 1994 genocide, reported the Associated Press (AP).

"I never took part in the genocide", claimed the academic, quoted by the agency.

Munyakazi was imprisoned in Rwanda from 1994 to 1999.

After his provisional release , he left for a seminar in the United States, but he never returned to Rwanda.

The Rwandan linguist initially taught at Montclair State College in New Jersey, before joining Goucher College in September.

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