09.02.10 - ICTR/USA - US AMBASSADOR RESTATES KABUGA LIVES IN KENYA

Arusha, February 9, 2010 (FH) - Stephen Rapp, the United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, reasserted on Tuesday that the alleged "financier of the genocide" Félicien Kabuga was still living in Kenya.

0 min 52Approximate reading time

The American diplomat made this claim in Arusha where he had meetings with top officials of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, including ICTR President Judge Dennis Byron and the Chief Prosecutor Hassan Bubacar Jallow.

Questioned by Hirondelle News Agency about the whereabouts of Félicien Kabuga could be, Stephen Rapp answered, in French: "Kabuga is still in Kenya. We have information about his presence in Kenya".

The Ambassador had already made a similar statement in November 2009.

He added that he intended to discuss "Kabuga's arrest" with Kenyan authorities on Wednesday in Nairobi.

Félicien Kabuga is the most wanted amongst ICTR's eleven genocide-accused still on the run.

Nairobi maintains that the Rwandan's businessman has left Kenya, but the ICTR wants evidence of his departure and specifics about when and where he crossed the border and for which destination.

An autodidact who became in the 1990s the biggest fortune of Rwanda, Kabuga is accused of having ordered the machetes which were used to massacre Tutsis during the 1994 genocide.

His son-in-law, the former minister of Planning Augustin Ngirabatware, is currently on trial before the ICTR.

ER/GF

© Hirondelle News Agency