UN TRIBUNAL PROSECUTOR MOVES TO DROP CHARGES AGAINST EX-MILITARY OFFICER

He had been awaiting extradition to theICTR in Arusha, Tanzania, to face genocide charges. A highly placed source in the Office of the Prosecutor confirmed toHirondelle that the motion had been filed but declined to give details. Several observers of the ICTR have since the arrest of Rusatira accused theICTR of lack of focus arguing that he (Rusatira) had opposed leaders of thegenocide. Rusatira is also said to have saved several Tutsis during thegenocide. Rusatira is mainly indicted for allegedly participating in the killings ofabout 2,000 Tutsi refugees at the Ecole Technique Officielle Don Bosco(ETO), an institute of technology in the Rwandan capital Kigali. Therefugees were killed in April 1994, after UN peacekeeping forces that hadbeen guarding the complex were evacuated from the country. Rusatira joined the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), the new Rwandan army afterthe genocide, but fled to exile in 1996. No date has been set for the hearing of the motion to drop charges againstRusatira. GG/DO/FH(PR-0814e)