Arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one of the main Rwandan officers accused of the murder of the Tutsi Queen Rosalie Gicanda in 1994 was handed over to the Rwandan authorities on Saturday 1 March. For three decades, he was one of the leading figures of a militia operating in the east of the DRC. An unusual scene unfolded that day at the post-border of the “Grande Barrière”, separating Goma, on the Congolese shore of Lake Kivu, from Gisenyi, on the Rwandan side. Under the eyes of the cameras, fifteen Congolese soldiers crossed, in silence and with their faces closed, the few hundred meters connecting the two cities. Captured during the violent fighting which, at the end of January, would have left nearly 3 000 dead during the takeover of Goma by the rebel coalition M23-AFC, these men were part of the vanquished. Supported by Rwandan forces, the rebels have since extended their control to Bukavu, at the southern end of the lake. Aged 61, with a shaved head, tinted glasses and impeccable uniform, he attracted particular attention… The extradition of Brigadier General Ezechiel Gakwarere marks a major turning point in the fight against the impunity of those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide. After three decades of de cavale and activities within militias operating in eastern DRC, his arrest and handover to Rwandan authorities illustrate the complex security dynamics of the region, where intertwined armed conflicts, geopolitical interests and the quest for justice.
RDC: A Rwandan general extradited after thirty years of cavalry for the murder of the Tutsi queen Rosalie Gicanda
