South African Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola on Thursday commended the country’s law enforcement agencies on the arrest of Rwanda’s most wanted genocide fugitive, Fulgence Kayishema.
The Rwandan ex-police chief was found working on a farm in wine country, near Cape Town on Wednesday, and is expected to appear in court on Friday.
The arrest comes after an Interpol red notice was issued at the request of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunal (IRMCT).
The fugitive was wanted by the IRMCT for genocide and crimes against humanity in Rwanda.
Kayishema has been a wanted man and on the run for more than 20 years. He is accused of killing thousands of refugees.
In April through June 1994, the UN estimates that 800 000 Rwandans were brutally slaughtered by fellow citizens in a state-led genocide targeting the Tutsi ethnic group. About 75% of the Tutsi population were killed.
He had been tracked across several African countries, including Mozambique and Eswatini, since his indictment in 2001.
Kayishema is alleged to have orchestrated the killing of approximately 2000 Tutsi refugees that includes women, men, children, and elderly, at the Nyange Catholic Church during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Lamola said: “With this arrest two emphatic statements cannot be refuted, that the long arm of the law knows no time bounds and South Africa is not willing to be a safe haven for fugitives.
“We will continue to assist other countries and international bodies to trace fugitives.We expect the same from other countries.”
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