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23 June 2009
Kigali — HARARE - Zimbabwe could be harboring as many as six former top soldiers in the Rwandan army wanted in connection with the 1994 Genocide which left over a million people dead.
The six were senior military officers in the regime of former Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana, which is accused of masterminding the Geenocide against Tutsis.
The former soldiers from the then Armed Forces of Rwanda (FAR) fled Rwanda when then Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) rebels led by president Paul Kagame, seized control of Kigali and put to an end the 100 days of blood-letting.
Sources this week said the six former senior Rwandan army officers were based in Harare where they were reportedly running thriving business ventures. They have all reportedly changed their identities and assumed new names.
Although there was no official confirmation from authorities in both Harare and Kigali, an African Rights Report released recently revealed several former top Rwandan army officers who participated in the Genocide are scattered all over southern Africa mainly in countries such as Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe.
The top former army officers are wanted in Kigali and by an international tribunal trying Genocide suspects in Arusha, Tanzania.
Sources within the refugees' community said genocide suspects were living comfortably in Harare running business ventures.
"They are in Harare running their businesses," said one refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "But it's difficult to track them down because they have all changed their identities but I know that they are about six staying here."
Some years ago refugees from the DRC demonstrated at Tongogara Refuge Camp, about 350 KM south east of the capital, demanding that some refugees from Rwanda be removed from the camp because they participated in the Genocide. The demonstration was quelled by the police.
Sources in Harare said the former top military men came to Zimbabwe in 1996 after initially being based in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Officials from the United Nations refugees' agency in Harare, United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), declined to comment on the issue.
An official from the department of social welfare in Harare said he was aware of such accusations but insisted divulging such information was sensitive and could compromise their work.
Zimbabwe is also home to former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariem, who together with several of his kinsmen fled their motherland after a rebel movement, which is now in power, overran the country. Mengistu is wanted for the murder of hundreds of his former political nemesis.
Relatives of former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor are also staying in Harare also running thriving business operations in the Zimbabwean capital.
Another country accused of harbouring alleged fugitives include Kenya where Felicien Kabuga is largely believed to be hiding.
Kabuga is Africa's most wanted war criminal with a US$5 million bounty on his head. He is alleged to have financed the Genocide.
Senior officials in Kenya's government are accused of harbouring Kabuga, an immensely wealthy businessman with vast business interests.
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Zola Budd do you get orgasms in churning out the hate about Zimbabwe. Hilters death camps operators were caught after several decades hiding in countries like New Zealand, Australia, Brazil,USA and even Germany itself. So you want to tell me these killers were enjoying the host countrys' leaders hospitality. You are just a pathetic little man who I thick uses his d**k to think. Can you just leave Zimbabwe alone. You raping grandfather and mother will never be Zimbabwean. They will never get that farm back because they didnt buy it in the first place. They plundered and killed my ancestors and I think the spirit of 1980 reconcialation must be revoked and I know where a couple of Rhodies with black blood on their hands are hiding. We will recall them. Mugabe was very stupid to forgive Smiths regime war crimes. Now the m***r f***s think that they are GOD. I will never forget what you did to me you f***s.
Tut tut, you seem very touchy don't you, I must of struck a very raw nerve of yours. Best you deal with your emotions and go see a n'anga to get some muti for your condition. Been on the mbanje lately? It seems to of effected your brain.
sounds like zanuland is a den of inequity!!!
Moltecc, you have done the same shameful cruelty to the thousands of your very own Ndebele, white farmers, and MDC supporters. Do you think only YOU have feelings and those who faced untold horrors by Mugabe and all of you who supported those actions were heaps of stone and not human as yourself? YOU are the mother f#####s who replaced the previous regime and instigated the killings even going further to destruct and crap all over your very own people and country. You obviously learned nothing buy your non - condemnation of all those killings perpetrated you greedy, useless and shameless pieces of human waste. Many Zimbabweans are mourning at YOUR hands so continue licking your festering wound until you recognize that other people have feelings too.
I bet these thugs are being treated to the best rooms in one of Mugabe's mansions. Or just home in on Mengestu and these terrorists will be there tending his garden or his kitchen. Takunya must be one of the genocidal maniac terrorists hiding in his dungeon.