Several Kenyan families are seeking justice after Felicien Kabuga ‘s arrest in Paris on 16 May, accusing the top Rwandan genocide of having a hand in murdering their relatives while he was hiding in Kenya.
Felicien Kabuga is thought to have fled to Kenya in September 1994, months after the genocide under the protection of autocratic President Daniel arap Moi. He ‘d reportedly stayed in the country until 2012.
The Rwandan tycoon ‘s controversial presence, accused of financing the killing of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994, is believed to have led to the murder of several Kenyans.
Following the arrest of the 84-year-old in Asnières-Sur-Seine, northwest of Paris, on 16 May, families of those allegedly killed in Kenya are hopeful that the highly sought-after Rwandan genocidaire will also face justice for his actions in their country.
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Lydia Wangui, 68, is a small-scale subsistence farmer based in Nyeri, central Kenya who has been pursuing justice for her assassinated son William Munuhe for the last 17 years.
Munuhe’s dead body, partially dissolved in acid, was discovered on 20 January 2003 at his home in the exclusive Karen suburb of Nairobi. A year earlier, the former journalist, then aged 27, was thought to have eyed a $5 million reward that the United States had provided for Kabuga ‘s capture.
Under the pretext of negotiating a business deal, he had allegedly tried to lure the Rwandan into his house and intended to deliver him to FBI agents he had contacted three days earlier.
“I feel a bittersweet relief that Kabuga has been caught,” Lydia said as she gazes at a well-tended graveyard in her homestead where Munuhe is buried. “He will now face justice for the pain and anguish that he caused my family – and also to the people of Rwanda.”
The Kenyan government has sought compensation from Munuhe ‘s family for his murder and denying that Kabuga was hiding in Nairobi, as well as for money spent over the past 17 years pursuing justice for their son.
How would anyone protect this murderer?These Kenyan powerful people are disgusting
— david andera (@david_andera) May 20, 2020
Dr. Charles Khamala, a senior lecturer at the local law school at Africa Nazarene University, thinks the plaintiffs have an uphill task.
But he says police need to answer questions, too.”If the victim was working as an informer and had reported to the police that his life was in danger, they should have protected him. Otherwise, why did he take the risk of exposing himself to Kabuga?” Khamala asks.
Many other families of Kabuga’s Kenyan victims seek justice.
On 12 July 2003 unknown people killed Benjamin Mbiti Kalili, a telecommunications specialist, seconded by the United Nations to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in Tanzania.
He had been actively involved in another botched operation to capture Kabuga a month earlier in Nairobi.
Kalili’s younger brother Francis says his sibling told the family how the Arusha court had succeeded in locating Kabuga’s hideout in the Hurlingham estate in Nairobi, where a dawn raid was planned.
Kabuga had been tipped off, however, and slipped away minutes before the arresting team, including Kalili, arrived.
Another victim is never to be found Michael Sarunei, a soldier allegedly assigned to protect Kabuga, who disappeared on 13 February 2009.
His family claims he was killed in 2008 for secretly photographing the Rwandan fugitive when he was being treated in a Nairobi hospital.
A French court ordered Kabuga to be handed over to the ICTR on 3 June, to face charges of genocide. Before a court in Arusha, Tanzania, the 84-year-old could have been moved to The Hague.
Because of his poor health his attorneys have objected to the move. They also say he won’t receive a fair trial in court, and have called for a domestic trial in France, which has already tried and convicted three suspects of genocide in Rwanda.
Kabuga also can appeal the extradition decision by contesting the validity of the arrest warrant issued against him in 1999.