A few months ago in Congo, a rebel group beheaded the chief of the village Busurungi bound men in the village a line elbow to elbow and cut their head.
In the meantime, the man who says he coordinates the daily activities of the rebels was to put out their press releases from his apartment in a suburb of Paris. That’s where Callixte Mbarushimana life as a free man – even though he is a list of the UN sanctions as Executive Secretary of the FDLR rebel group, accused of killing at least 700 civilians last year. He is also on Interpol Wanted List of genocide in his native Rwanda.
The 46-year-old former UN employee is a case study in how leaders accused of atrocities are still away. His story also shows how the roots of conflicts in Africa have spread to Europe, with at least two dozen accused genocidaires live there now, including Mbarushimana.
“I find it unbelievable that he is able to regularly send press releases from somewhere in Paris. It’s unbearable,” said Alain Gauthier, who heads an advocacy group for survivors of the genocide in Rwanda. “We have at least be able to shut him up. Why is he not arrested?”
French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bernard Valero, said the spokesman of France has followed all applicable laws, but it can not extradite Mbarushimana to Rwanda, as required by the Interpol arrest warrant.
“France does not extradite citizens of countries that apply the death penalty – as was the case in Rwanda – or justice who is not fully guarantee their rights,” said Valero.
A recent UN investigation traced the calls from satellite phones FDLR commanders in the Congolese jungle to a network of tracks in Europe, demonstrate the close relationship between the foot soldiers of committing atrocities and the leadership of the group abroad. From these discussions, the longest was a series of unidentified numbers in France, the UN investigators believe are controlled by Mbarushimana.
In a move expected to pressure France to run Mbarushimana, Germany arrested the President and the Vice President of the FDLR end of last year, who lived in Germany for years. Those who insisted on Mbarushimana face justice since 1994 say that France has proven time and again that it is not the political will to go after genocidaires have.
“I’m here. Am I to hide?” asks Mbarushimana during an interview multiple hours in the lobby of a hotel in the chic Opéra district.
He is articulate and relaxed, a brave man, who carries well-cut suits tastefully coordinated with pink ties. He listens to music world, World Cinema and enjoy reading good novels. He stressed that he is very innocent and that the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, a military and political movement intent to reform in Rwanda that have never committed abuse in Congo.
He behaves like a man with nothing to hide, except that he will not allow reporters to his home or say in Paris, where he lives. The only subject he would not discuss exactly what he did in 1994.XX