News
Prosecutor seeks transfer of Kabuga to UN custody
Felicien Kabuga, indicted on charges of genocide related to the 1994 Rwandan massacre of some 800,000 people, appeared before a French court on Wednesday, four days after his arrest following a quarter of a century on the run.
In his first appearance in public in more than 20 years, the octogenarian was brought into the court in a wheelchair, dressed in jeans and a blue jumper and wearing a face mask.
Kabuga is accused of bankrolling and arming the ethnic Hutu militias that waged the 100-day killing spree against Rwanda’s Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Rwanda’s most wanted fugitive, he was arrested on Saturday in a Paris suburb.
His lawyers said in a statement before the hearing that Kabuga had the right to be presumed innocent and opposed being transferred from France to a United Nations (UN) tribunal that handles crimes against humanity based in Tanzania.
Defence lawyer Laurent Bayon told the court Kabuga wished to be tried in France.
The court will decide whether to hand Kabuga to the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCTs). The international court is based in The Hague, the Netherlands and Arusha, Tanzania.
The IRMCT’s chief prosecutor told Reuters news agency the court had already requested Kabuga be transferred to UN custody.
Kabuga’s voice was weak, but audible, as he confirmed through an interpreter his identity and parents’ names. He gave his date of birth as March 1, 1933.
Kabuga’s arrest marked the end of a more than 20 years long hunt that spanned Africa and Europe.
A one-time tea and coffee tycoon, he is accused of being a main financier of the genocide, paying for the militias that carried out the massacres, as well as importing huge numbers of machetes, according to the UN tribunal’s indictment.
He also co-owned Radio Television Milles Collines, whose radio station broadcast anti-Tutsi messages that fanned the ethnic hatred.
The United States had placed a $5m reward on his head.
The French court granted a request by the defence to defer the hearing and set the next date for May 27.
Exiting the courtroom, Kabuga raised his fist as several relatives including one son voiced encouragement. -Aljazeera
The Minority in Parliament has called for the immediate resignation or dismissal of the Attorney General, accusing him of incompetence over the release of GH¢350 million from the Contingency Fund for flood relief.
Addressing the media today in Parliament, the Deputy Minority Leader Patricia Appiagyei alleged that the release of the money breached legal procedures because there were ongoing garnishee proceedings involving the Contingency Fund.
According to her, the Attorney General directed the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to allow the funds to be released despite the pending court process.
“The Attorney General’s letter speaks for itself. It directed the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to give effect to the release of funds from the Contingency Fund notwithstanding the pending garnishee proceedings. Yet the Ministry of Finance subsequently announced that the GH¢350 million had been released,” she stated.
Mrs. Appiagyei argued that the Attorney General’s actions showed incompetence and undermined due legal process.
She said the Minority believes the Attorney General should either resign or be dismissed over the matter.
The Minority maintains that public funds must be managed in accordance with the law and has called for accountability over the release of the money.
By: Jacob Aggrey
U.S. Central Command forces have begun a series of powerful strikes against targets in Iran following attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
The strikes are in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the international waterway with civilian crews.
According to U.S. officials, the operation is intended to impose heavy costs on Iran for targeting and attacking commercial shipping in a critical global trade route.
The U.S. military described Iran’s actions as “unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire.”
Officials said the attacks on the civilian-crewed vessels posed a direct threat to freedom of navigation and the safety of international shipping.
The strikes mark an escalation in U.S. military action in the region aimed at deterring further aggression against commercial traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
U.S. Central Command has not provided details on the specific targets or extent of damage from the strikes. Further updates are expected as the operation continues.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
