Angola to hand over genocide suspect to ICTR

Angola announced on Monday that it will arrest the Rwandan genocide suspect, Augustin Bizimungu, who has been discovered among disbanding UNITA fighters who had gathered at a demobilisation centre in the country, Angolan media reported. "Bizimungu is one of 68 Rwandan military [men] who, like another 583 soldiers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC], formed the foreign forces illegally stationed in DRC territory fighting institutions of the Angolan state," the Angolan state-owned news agency, Angop, citing a government communiqué, said. Angop reported that Bizimungu would be handed to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), in Arusha, Tanzania. The ICTR is prosecuting suspects accused of masterminding the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The US government has offered rewards of up to US $5 million for information leading to the arrest of nine suspects believed to be living in the DRC, of whom Bizimungu, who is the former commander of the ex-Rwandan armed forces, is one. He fled to the DRC when the Rwandan Patriotic Army captured the Rwandan capital, Kigali, in 1994, the Associated Press reported on Monday. In Arusha, the ICTR resumed proceedings on Tuesday after a short recess. Trial Chamber One will now hear the case of former information minister in Rwanda's interim government, Eliezer Niyitegeka. His case was adjourned on 26 July, due to the non-availability of witnesses, who had failed to arrive at the tribunal from Rwanda due to difficulties in obtaining new travel documents introduced by the government in Kigali.