Zimbabwe co-operates with genocide fugitive initiative

The Zimbabwean Government says it is working closely with Rwanda to hunt down and extradite several alleged fugitives of the Rwandan genocide believed to be in the country. This was revealed by Zimbabwe's Ministry of Foreign Affairs a week after the tracking down of suspected genocide fugitive Potrais Mpiranya's remains. A report on the News24 site notes that Mpiranya was buried in a Harare grave in 2006 and the remains were discovered by a UN body that handled outstanding war crimes cases for Rwanda and Yugoslavia. Foreign Affairs Minister Fredrick Shava said Zimbabwe was processing numerous requests from Rwandan President Paul Kagame's Government to extradite suspects believed to be in Zimbabwe. ‘We are not only co-operating and assisting the UN mechanism, but we are also assisting Rwanda bilaterally and requests for extradition of some fugitives allegedly believed to be in Zimbabwe are at various stages of processing,’ he said.

The report notes that Zimbabwe and Rwanda last year signed an MoU on legal mutual assistance on criminal matters and co-operation in the field of prisons/correctional services. In terms of the agreement, Rwandan refugees that had been in Zimbabwe before 1999, as per a UN resolution, should be declared illegal immigrants because they fled soon after the genocide and some were wanted for war crimes.

Zimbabwe has also denied that it harboured Mpiranya. ‘The Government wishes to clarify some recent media reports that are circulating insinuating that the government was harbouring the most wanted Rwandan fugitive,’ it said in a statement. A second News24 report notes that it added that officials had co-operated with investigators seeking Mpiranya, setting up a joint working group, helping to finance the research, sharing investigative reports as well as summaries of interviews with suspects. ‘It was the Government of Zimbabwe that authorised and participated in the exhumation of Mpiranya's remains when it was suspected that he was the one buried under a false name, Ndume Sambao,’ the statement added. Mpiranya was indicted in 2000 by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on eight counts of genocide, complicity in genocide, murder, extermination, rape, persecution, other inhuman acts constituting crimes against humanity, and murder. He was accused of killing moderate Hutu Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, 10 Belgian peacekeepers charged with protecting her and several prominent politicians, as well as their families and servants.