Maputo — The Mozambican government has pledged cooperation with the Rwandan authorities in the hunt for people suspected of participating in the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

The pledge was made by Justice Minister Benvinda Levy, who returned on Tuesday from a visit to Rwanda, apparently sparked off by angry Rwandan claims that southern African states, including Mozambique, had allowed genocide suspects to escape justice, and even to open businesses.

Earlier this month, the head of Rwanda's Genocide Fugitives Tracking Unit, John Mutangana, cited in the Rwandan publication "New Times", said that although western countries, including Britain, Holland, Finland and Canada, have arrested genocide suspects, "no arrest of genocide fugitives has been made by any African country for nearly a decade now, even when most of the wanted fugitives are believed to be living on the continent".

Mutangana said that some African countries have been turned into "dens of genocidaires", where those who committed mass murder "go about their business ventures unrestrained, while others are in various professional careers".

He said that senior figures who plotted the genocide move freely from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Malawi or Zambia where they run businesses.

"For insistence in Mozambique we issued eight indictments containing details of the fugitives including their physical addresses but it is almost four months and no action has been taken," Mutangana accused.

A spokesperson for the Justice Ministry told AIM on Wednesday that the Mozambican government intends to work the Rwandan Justice Ministry "to find out if any of those suspected of genocide are indeed inside Mozambique".

"If we find that they are here, they will be tracked down and sent to Rwanda", he promised.

He could not confirm whether the eight people mentioned by Mutangana are in the country, but said that the Ministry would follow up leads "to find out what is happening".

The Rwandan Minister of Justice, Tharcisse Karugarama, is expected to visit Mozambique some time in the next two to three months.

After she had met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Levy gave a press conference in Kigali on Monday where she stressed that Mozambique has offered "support and collaboration" in tracking down genocide suspects.

She had delivered a message to Kagame from his Mozambican counterpart, Armando Guebuza, "and the main objective is keeping the relations between the two countries firm and sound," Levy told the Rwandan reporters.

"If someone is suspected of Genocide, we have to take him or her to court", Levy stressed.

Karugarama, who is also Attorney-General, said that Kagame welcomed Mozambique's move to assist in arresting and extraditing the suspects. Guebuza's message, he said, "clearly stated that Mozambique will not be a haven for Genocide perpetrators,"

He added that Rwanda has sent nine extradition requests to Mozambique. "So far we have tracked nine suspects living in Mozambique and these have been indicted by the Rwandan courts," said Karugarama.

He added that Rwanda has proposed that the two countries sign an extradition treaty. "Mozambique indicated that they received the request and accepted it; what remains is to sign the treaty," Karugarama said.