ICTR investigators to meet new Kenyan government

The Rwandan businessman who allegedly financed the 1994 genocide in his country, Felicien Kabuga, is "most likely" in Kenya, the commander of the investigation section at the Kigali office of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Maxwell Nkole, told IRIN on Thursday. He said that the tribunal was "in the process of establishing contact" with the new Kenyan government, and that ICTR staff members were "on their way" to discuss the case with Kenyan officials. To date, indications were that the new administration would be "more than willing" to help with investigations, he added. The US ambassador-at-large for war crimes, Pierre-Richard Prosper, told reporters on Tuesday that Kabuga had been using "government infrastructure to maintain his fugitive status in Kenya", the Associated Press reported. Prosper accused Zakayo Cheruiyot, the Kenyan permanent secretary for public administration and internal security, of providing Kabuga with "protection", news agencies said. Cheruiyot has denied the charge. Nkole went on to say that the latest information about Kabuga's whereabouts had been obtained through the tribunal's investigations, as well as the US-led Rewards for Justice programme, which offers up to US $5 million for information leading to the arrest of war criminals. The tribunal indicted Kabuga in 1998, accusing him of being "the main supporter and financier of the Interahamwe militia" responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide. He was accused of making "massive purchases" of machetes, hoes, and other agricultural implements, knowing that they would be used to kill. He was also part owner of the infamous Radio Television Milles Collines in Rwanda, which ordered Hutus to kill Tutsis, and which Human Rights Watch has called "the voice of genocide". Kabuga has been traced to several homes in the Kenyan cities of Nairobi, Nakuru and Eldoret, according to the International Crisis Group, including three belonging to Hosea Kiplagat, the nephew of Kenyan former President Daniel arap Moi.