Fugitive ‘financier’ of Rwanda genocide held

PARIS: France on Saturday arrested Felicien Kabuga, one of the last key fugitives wanted over the 1994 Rwandan genocide, leaving him facing a likely trial at an international tribunal after a quarter of a century on the run.Kabuga, once one of Rwanda's richest men, was living under a false identity in the Paris suburbs, the public prosecutor's office and police said in a joint statement.

Agents swooped on his home at dawn, finding an 84-year-old man "who has been sought by the judicial authorities for 25 years", the statement said.

Around 800,000 people -- Tutsis but also moderate Hutus -- were slaughtered over 100 days by ethnic Hutu extremists during the 1994 genocide.

Kabuga was arrested at his home in Asnieres-sur-Seine north of Paris and had been hiding with the complicity of his children.

The police statement described him as "one of the world´s most wanted fugitives".

The news was hailed in Rwanda.

"Capturing Felicien Kabuga is very welcome and a commendable act that serves justice... our wish as the umbrella body for genocide survivors is for him to be deported and tried in Rwanda where he committed the crimes," Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu, head of the Ibuku association, told AFP.

Kabuga is accused of creating the notorious Interahamwe militia that carried out massacres during the genocide.

He also helped create the equally notorious Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines that incited people to carry out murder in its broadcasts.

Kabuga spent time in Germany, Belgium, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Switzerland on the run.

The head of France´s agency for fighting crimes against humanity, Eric Emeraux, told AFP renewed efforts were made to track Kabuga down two months ago after new intelligence emerged.

Olivier Olsen, head of the association of homeowners in the building where he lived, described Kabuga as "someone very discreet... who murmured when you said hello".

He said Kabuga had lived there for three or four years.

Kabuga is accused of using his wealth and influence during the genocide to funnel money to militia groups as chairman of the Fonds de Defense Nationale (FDN) fund.