What do the 4 Genocide suspects in Netherlands share

Kigali : The Genocide fugitives tracking unit has uncovered three more suspects living in the Netherlands – coming in addition to a former army major discovered by campaign group African Rights. RNA has pieced together details which suggest the four have several aspects they share.

The new three men are: Mr. Charles Ndereyehe Ntahontuye – ex-director of the agricultural institute ISAR-Rubona; Mr. Venant Rutunga – also from the same institute; and Mr. Jean Baptiste Nyabusore – ex-head of ISAE-Busogo, another agriculture school.

Government and Dutch prosecutors allege the three were involved in the 1994 Tutsi massacres. Mr. Ntahontuye and Mr. Rutunga are accused of being part of the killing machine in Butare – in Southern Rwanda. As for Mr. Nyabusore, the charge sheet covers the massacres in Mukingo – northern Rwanda.

RNA has uncovered details suggesting these three, and Maj. Pierre-Claver Karangwa thrown into the public domain by African Rights, are members of the troubled opposition group FDU-Inkingi. They were part of the group which was helping embattled Ingabire Victoire to set up structures in Europe.

Ms. Ingabire herself was living in the Netherlands, but FDU-Inkingi structures spread also powerfully in Belgium and Norway, according to available details. Their names appear on some meeting minutes of the group in 2007 and 2008.

As recently as November 2009, Mr. Ntahontuye, Mr. Rutunga and Mr. Nyabusore put their names to an online petition dubbed “Support Democratic Elections in Rwanda” – in apparent reference to the fourth coming August 09 elections. Some 463 Rwandans exiles signed up to the petition, including several exiled members of the party.

However, available information indicates that these men have preferred to offer support to FDU-Inkingi from the background – prompting speculation after they were identified as Genocide fugitives this week, that the three could have been hiding from something.

Venant Rutunga (PhD) is a “guest researcher” at the Dutch Wageningen University and Research Centre – ISRIC since April 2004. RNA is yet to get comment from the institute concerning the status of their employee and the accusations against him.

The institute’s websites also identifies him as: “He has wide professional experience in tropical agriculture and soils. Currently, he works on Quantitative Evaluation of Fertility in Tropical Soils (QUEFTS), with special attention for eight countries in southern Africa. Venant is also reviewing publications on Rwanda agriculture to identify which land management and planning strategies can ensure food and monetary income to the Rwandese.”

Over the past years, Mr. Rutunga has widely published material that is heavily critical of government in Rwanda but under the name “Kota Venant”.

Among the three alleged fugitives, only Mr. Charles Ndereyehe Ntahontuye (as seen in the photo) is found in the Interpol database as wanted for Genocide in Rwanda. He has been on the wanted warrant since July last year.

As recently as April 02 this year, Mr. Ntahontuye was publicly firing at the Kigali government with an online posting where he accuses the Kigali government of taking the country in a wrong direction. He argues that former Burundian president Pierre Buyoya chose the right path by handing over power to his opponent.

Mr. Jean Baptiste Nyabusore lives in Noord Brabant in the Eindhoven city. But few details are readily available as what he is doing there. He has largely kept out of the limelight.

ARI / RNA