Rwandan officials have pursued their Malawian counterparts on the whereabouts of a 1994 Rwandese genocide suspect, Vincent Nzigiyimfura who was recently still leading a business in the country freely. Rwandan prosecutor General Martin Ngoga said the suspect was last reported in Malawi under the name Vincent Nzigiye.

He added that the Africa Rights, a non-governmental organisation and his country officials were convinced the man had sneaked out to the United States of America. "We do not know under what circumstances he managed to sneak out of Malawi and end up in the US," he said.

Malawian authorities said they were investigating the matter through the Malawi Police but that this issue was better handled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Public Security. Police chief, Inspector General Peter Mukhito said: "All refugee and asylum seekers movements are the responsibility of the ministry. That is beyond the police as we don't handle such matters." However, Mukhito added that he would act when a red alert was issued.

Nzigiyimfura was in the country in the Malawi's capital city Lilongwe running a business, Mzigiye Shopping Centre in Area 2, situated just a few kilometres to the country's Area 3 Central Region Police headquarters.

In April 2009, Africa Rights produced a report that the former Rwandeese businessman in Nyanza town, is suspected to be a key architect during the genocide against Ttusti Rwandans and moderate Hutu's.

Rakiya Omaar of Africa Rights said it was hard to understand how the suspect managed to fly to the US using a visa. "The good news, however, is that US authorities are aware of the allegations against him, and we have sent them a copy of our report, in addition, justice officials in Rwanda are actively following his case and working with US authorities."

Ngoga visited Malawi where he met with the Director of Public Prosecutions to discuss the matter and said it was a shared responsibility of all other civilized nations to take some action.

source: AfricaNews
photo: EPA/RICKY GARE