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RWANDA

France asks to drop Rwanda genocide case

Two decades after he was charged with genocide and torture, Paris prosecutors said on Wednesday they had asked for the case against a Rwandan priest to be thrown out, potentially souring ties between the two countries.

Published: 19 August 2015 17:27 CEST
France asks to drop Rwanda genocide case
A file photo taken June 28, 1994 shows Roman Catholic priest father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka (L) speaking with an unidentified Rwandan soldier (R) in Kigali. Photo: AFP
Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka stands accused by authorities in both Rwanda and France of taking part in the mass slaughter of Tutsis that erupted in April 1994 following the death in a plane crash of Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana.
   
The Catholic priest has lived in France since 1995 after fleeing his country and has refused repeated calls to return to Rwanda, while French authorities have declined to extradite him.
   
“From our investigations, it appears the role of Wenceslas Munyeshyaka during the 1994 genocide raised a lot of questions,” Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said in a statement.
   
“But the probe was not able to formally corroborate specific acts pertaining to his active participation” as a perpetrator or an accomplice, he added.
   
It is now up to magistrates to decide whether to bring the case to court or not.
   
Munyeshyaka was charged by a French judge in July 1995 with genocide, torture, mistreatment and inhuman and degrading acts.
   
He is accused of having turned over Tutsis sheltering in his Saint-Famille church — where hundreds had sought shelter — to Hutu militiamen surrounding the building.
   
In 2006, a Rwandan military court sentenced him in absentia to life in prison for rape and helping extremist militias.
   
Judges ruled that Munyeshyaka had on several occasions raided church halls where Tutsis were hiding to pick out young girls and women who were raped in nearby buildings.
   
But Munyeshyaka, who is now a priest in the northern French town of Gisors, denies all the charges.
   
He says he is the victim of a political set up and always did his best to help civilians.
   
If his case is dropped, it could further strain ties between France and Rwanda.
   
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has frequently accused Paris of complicity in the genocide through its support for the Hutu national government of the time, accusations which France has always rejected.
   
Dozens of legal proceedings have been launched in France against Rwandans suspected of  contributing to the genocide.
   
In the first trial of its kind in the country, genocide suspect Pascal Simbikangwa was last year convicted and sentenced to 25 years in jail.

IMMIGRATION

Danish government tables bill for offshore asylum centres as ministers return from Rwanda

A bill tabled by the Danish government and visit to Rwanda by Danish ministers has fuelled speculation Copenhagen plans to open an offshore asylum centre in the African country.

Published: 30 April 2021 16:42 CEST
Danish government tables bill for offshore asylum centres as ministers return from Rwanda
Sjælsmark, a Danish 'departure centre' for rejected asylum seekers, photographed in August 2020. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

Immigration minister Mattias Tesfaye and international development minister Flemming Møller Mortensen this week travelled to Rwanda where they signed an agreement with the Rwandan government. 

The trip was surrounded by an element of secrecy, with the ministers initially refusing to speak to Danish media and only the Rwandan foreign ministry officially publicising it.

READ ALSO: Danish ministers visit Rwanda but stay quiet on agreement

The two ministers landed back in Copenhagen on Thursday afternoon, the same day the government tabled a new bill sub-titled “Introduction of the option to transfer asylum seekers for processing and possible subsequent protection in third countries”.

Commenting on the Rwandan trip for the first time, Tesfaye declined to confirm the talks included discussion of an asylum centre. The government wants “discussions to take place in confidentiality”, he told broadcaster DR. He also rejected a connection to the bill, tabled by his ministry on Thursday, DR writes.

“It’s correct that it’s the government’s wish to establish a new asylum system where processing of asylum claims is moved out of Denmark. We are in dialogue with a number of countries about that,” the minister also said.

The agreement signed in Rwanda is “a framework on future partnerships” related to “environment and climate”, he said, adding “on the Danish side, we wish to manage migration in a better and fairer way. We have agreed to pursue this.”

Denmark’s Social Democratic government has a long-standing desire to establish a reception centre for refugees in a third country.

Rwanda in 2019 built a centre for asylum seekers stranded in Libya, but that centre has received a limited number of asylum seekers so far, DR reports based on UN data.

The Danish foreign ministry earlier confirmed that the two countries have agreed to work more closely on asylum and migration.

“This is not a case of a binding agreement, but a mutual framework for future partnership. The two governments will spend the coming period discussing concrete areas where the partnership can be strengthened,” the ministry wrote to DR.

The Danish Refugee Council criticised the bill, tweeting that “transfer of asylum seekers to a third country, as (proposed) in (parliament) today is irresponsible, lacks solidarity and should be condemned”.

“Over 80 million people have been driven from their homes while Denmark has a historically low number of asylum seekers. In that light it’s shameful that the government is trying to buy its way out of the responsibility for protecting refugees… it sets a dangerous example,” the NGO added.

The UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, has also responded to the law proposed by the government on Thursday.

The implementation of such a law would “rely on an agreement with a third country”, the UNHCR noted.

The agency wrote that it “strongly urges Denmark to refrain from establishing laws and practices that would externalize its asylum obligations” under UN conventions.

READ ALSO: Denmark registered record low number of asylum seekers in 2020

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