Acquitted Rwandan officials to live abroad for safety reasons

The two former senior government officials of Rwanda who have been acquitted of their charges for genocide will have to live abroad for safety reasons.

The acquittal of ex-transport minister Andre Ntagerura and ex- Cyangugu provincial governor Emmanuel Bagambiki have reportedly created anger among officials and survivors' associations in Kigali, according to reports reaching here from Arusha on Sunday.

The appeals chamber of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has just upheld a lower court's acquittal of the duo.

The lower court in February 2004 decided to set free the two former Rwandan government officials after acquitting them of their charges with genocide, crimes against humanity and serious violations of the Geneva Conventions in connection with the massacres committed in the Cyangugu prefecture.

Yet ever since their acquittal, no country has been willing to receive them. The UN court has to accommodate the two in a "safe house".

The first person to be acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Ignace Bagilishema, was received in France six months after his acquittal.

Ntagerura first wanted to go to France but now wants to live in Canada.

Bagambiki wants to rejoin his wife in Belgium.

The ICTR was established in 1998 to deal with the trials of the Rwandan genocide suspects and accused.

Rwanda's genocide in 1994 claimed 800,000 lives in a space of 100 days.

Source: Xinhua