The Tanzanian-based UN tribunal trying Rwandan genocide suspects has for the first time sent a suspect back to Rwanda for tria

The Tanzanian-based UN tribunal trying Rwandan genocide suspects has for the first time sent a suspect back to Rwanda for trial.

His legal team had said Jean-Bosco Uwinkindi would not get a fair trial in Rwanda, where he was once a pastor.

He is accused of ordering the killing of ethnic Tutsis after they sought refuge in his church.

About 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu militias in 100 days in the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

'Corpses near church'

The BBC's Prudent Nsenga in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, says Mr Uwinkindi was met at the airport by a delegation of Rwandan officials - including the country's prosecutor, who called his arrival a "landmark day for Rwandan justice".

On Tuesday, the former pastor lost his appeal against a transfer ruling by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

The ICTR - set up in Arusha shortly after the 1994 genocide - is due to wind up its work by the end of 2014, by which time all cases should have been transferred to national jurisdictions.

Mr Uwinkindi is accused of being one of the main perpetrators of the genocide.

The prosecution alleges that in investigations after the genocide, some 2,000 corpses were found near the church in Kanzenze, just outside Kigali, where he was pastor.

Mr Uwinkindi was indicted in 2001 and arrested last year when he entered Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Until his arrest by Ugandan police, Mr Uwinkindi was one of the ICTR's 11 most-wanted suspects.

He has denied the genocide charges.

South-South states to partner Rwanda on conflict resolution

States of the South-South region are to tap from the experiences of Rwanda in resolving its conflict and tackling the security challenges and economic problems of the region.
Already a delegation of the states, including the chairman of the South- South Governors Forum, Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State and his Delta State counterpart, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, had met with President Paul Kagame of Rwanda to work out the modalities of the cooperation.
To cement this new partnership, President Kagame will be in Nigeria later this month to give a talk during the Second Economic Summit of the South-South states billed for Asaba, Selta State, between April 26 and 28.
Fielding questions from journalists shortly after the delegation’s meeting with President Kagame in Kigali, Rwanda, Tuesday evening, Governor Uduaghan, said the region under the BRACED Commission had resolved to tap from the Rwandan experience.
He said: “We believe we should have someone who has an experience and success in crisis management and post-crisis management in tackling our peculiar situation hence the need to look in the direction of President Kagame and Rwanda,” he said.
He added that the objective was to come together to see how the region could come out of the crisis situation and become an investment destination.

Victoire Ingabire boycotts Rwanda terror trial

Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire says she is boycotting her terror trial, accusing the judge of bias.

Her lawyer says he will also stop attending hearings, after the testimony of a defence witness was cut short.

She is accused of propagating ethnic hatred and "genocide revisionism" - charges she says are politically motivated.

She was arrested in April 2010 and barred from standing in elections.

"I cannot carry on with this case," she told judges on Monday.

"My trust in the judiciary has waned. I and my legal representatives will not report to this court any more."

Her British defence lawyer Iain Edwards said the boycott came after a rebel colonel was interrupted while accusing the Rwandan intelligence services of offering money to rebels to make false claims against Ms Ingabire.

She is also accused of transferring money to the mainly ethnic Hutu FDLR rebels, based in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

The FDLR's Col Michel Habimana also testified that the charges were solely intended to bar Ms Ingabire from the August 2010 elections, Mr Edwards said, according to the AFP news agency.

The Unified Democratic Forces leader returned from exile in the Netherlands in January 2010.

She is a Hutu and has questioned why the official memorial to the 1994 genocide does not include any Hutus.

Most of the 800,000 people killed were ethnic Tutsis but Hutu moderates were also slaughtered by the Hutu extremists.

President Paul Kagame, the former rebel leader whose Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) put an end to the genocide, won a second term in office in August 2010 with 93% of the vote.