Trial of alleged genocide mastermind opens in Arusha

The trial of an alleged mastermind behind the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Col Theoneste Bagosora, began on Tuesday at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania.

Bagosora and three other senior commanders in the former Rwandan army - Lt-Col Anatole Nsengiyumva, Maj Aloys Ntabakuze and Brig-Gen Gratien Kabiligi - have all been charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for their alleged participation in the killings of an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

However, having been dubbed by some as "Rwanda's Milosevic", it is Bagosora - charged on 12 counts, including genocide, conspiracy and public incitement to commit genocide amongst other war crimes - who will be the focus of much of the attention.

At the time of the genocide, Bagosora was directeur de cabinet - an adviser - in the defence ministry. According to the indictment drawn up by the prosecution, Bagosora assumed de facto control of political and military affairs in Rwanda after the plane carrying the late Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana, was shot down on 6 April 1994.

Immediately after Habyarimana's death, soldiers and militiamen set up roadblocks throughout Rwanda and, after checking the lists of the "enemy" already drawn up, began killing Tutsis and members of the Hutu opposition.

The indictment alleges that from late 1990 until 1994, Bagosora and his co-accused "conspired among themselves and with others to work out a plan with the intent to exterminate the civilian Tutsi population and eliminate the members of the opposition, so that they could remain in power".

The indictment claims that Bagosora called for a rejection of political discussion in favour of the extermination of all Tutsis as the only solution to the political problems in Rwanda in 1994 - at one point leaving the negotiation table at the Arusha peace talks, saying he was returning to Rwanda to "prepare the apocalypse".

As well as using the army's logistics bases for arming the Interahamwe - the groups of Hutu militiamen organised to implement the plan of eradication - Bagosora was also involved in the drawing up of lists of people classified as enemies and their accomplices, the indictment states.

While the ICTR spokesman, Kingsley Moghalu, believes that the trial is extremely important to the people of Rwanda, it is also important to the Tribunal as it is expected to examine, in detail, the question of the planning of the genocide.

"Bagosora is alleged to have been one of the leading masterminds of the genocide, and therefore this particular trial should go to the heart of the issue of how the genocide was actually planned and executed at the highest level of the military and political establishment," he told IRIN on Tuesday.

However, by the time the much-anticipated "military trial" was supposed to have begun, none of the accused had arrived at court, as defence lawyers were arguing that their clients would not get a fair trial without first having received copies of witness statements in advance, sources told IRIN.