Rwanda security authorities have announced the apprehension of an individual suspected of involvement in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. According to a report by the News Times (Rwanda), 51-year-old Emmanuel Ntarindwa had been evading justice for the past 23 years, hiding in a neighbor’s house in Nyanza District.
The arrest of Emmanuel Ntarindwa, made public on Thursday, May 16th, was disclosed in a statement released by the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB). Ntarindwa had been residing in the home of his neighbor, Eugenie Mukamana, who was also detained for harboring a fugitive.
During interrogation, Ntarindwa reportedly confessed to his involvement in the genocide, admitting to the killings of numerous individuals in the former Kigoma and Nyabisindu communes of the current Nyanza district. He revealed that following the genocide, he fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and spent seven years there before returning to Rwanda in 2001. Upon his return, he sought refuge at Mukamana’s house, his neighbor before the genocide.
RIB further disclosed that Ntarindwa had not left the house since entering it, having dug a pit in one of the rooms to conceal himself. Both suspects were taken to the Busasamana RIB Station in Nyanza District, where they await further legal processing for prosecution.
The genocide in 1994 lasted for over 100 days and resulted in the deaths of approximately a million people, primarily from the Tutsi minority and moderate Hutus. The Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) intervened to end the genocide. Additionally, about 1,000 bodies were recovered from Lake Victoria in Uganda, where they had been disposed of during the genocide. Local communities along the shores of the lake in Rakai, Masaka, and Gomba districts buried these victims.
