This archive report was first published on 23 May 2020.
On May 16, 2020, French gendarmes arrested Félicien Kabuga, an 84-year-old Rwandan man, in Paris. Kabuga had been on the run for 26 years, making him one of the most wanted genocide masterminds in Rwanda.
At the time of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Kabuga was Rwanda's richest man and a key member of the elite Hutu brotherhood, 'Akazu', which controlled Rwanda. He was also the main financier of the 'interahamwe' deaths squads responsible for much of the killing.
Kabuga's hideout was discovered by French intelligence agents tracking his children living in Belgium. Wiretaps and surveillance confirmed Kabuga was indeed living in the building.
As a fugitive, Kabuga used numerous aliases and disguises, changing addresses and using false names. He is alleged to have spent time in incognito in countries such as Gabon, Cameroon, and Kenya.
Kenya's entanglement in Kabuga's saga became public in 2003, when the US FBI had planned to lure him out of his Nairobi lair and apprehend him. However, the plan was foiled when the local informer was murdered by unknown people.
On May 20, 2020, Kabuga was brought to court in Paris, wearing a face mask and seated in a wheelchair. The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) is seeking to transfer Kabuga to them, while Rwanda would prefer to conduct the trial itself.
With 20 aliases and multiple passports, including at least three from African countries, Kabuga's ability to evade capture for so long remains a mystery. The French police identified him through a DNA test, which matched a sample taken when he was hospitalized in Germany in 2007.
