The New York Times

Wednesday, February 16, 2000

Two Rwandans Held in Europe in 1994 Deaths

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS, Feb. 15 -- Two high-ranking former Rwandan army officers were arrested in Europe today in connection with the 1994 massacres in which a half million Rwandans died.

The suspects were arrested at their homes in small towns in France and Denmark on warrants issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

The French Interior Ministry said that police arrested Fran ois-Xavier Nzuwonemeye in Montauban, in southwest France.

Mr. Nzuwonemeye was the second suspect arrested in France in less than three months in connection with the massacres. A Paris court is to decide whether Mr. Nzuwonemeye will be extradited to Arusha, Tanzania, where the Rwanda tribunal is located.

French authorities did not provide information on Mr. Nzuwonemeye's alleged role in the massacres.

The Danish police arrested Innocent Sagahutu in Ringkobing, 200 miles west of Copenhagen.

The statement described both suspects as "high-ranking military officers, both former members of the Rwandan Armed Forces."

An estimated 500,000 minority ethnic Tutsi and Hutu opposition members died in three months of killing led by members of the Hutu-dominated government. The slaughter ended when Tutsi-led rebels came to power.

Mr. Sagahutu was identified as an army captain wanted in connection with the killing in 1994 of Rwanda's Prime Minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, and 10 United Nations peacekeepers from Belgium who had been assigned to protect her.

Last November, the former Rwandan Minister of Higher Education, Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda, was arrested in France. He was extradited to Tanzania this month to stand trial on charges of genocide.

On Feb. 5, the British police arrested Tharcisse Muvunyi, 46, of Rwanda on charges of genocide.

Since it was established by the United Nations in November 1994 to "prosecute persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law" committed in Rwanda that year, the tribunal has delivered seven verdicts. It is holding 39 people in custody in Arusha.