A census carried out by Rwandas Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports found that 937.000 Tutsi and politically moderate Hutus died during the 1994 genocide, an official announced on Thursday.
– These are the people who died during the 100 days (April-June 1994) of mayhem and who we were able to find out their names, age and their places of birth, Robert Bayigamba, the minister for youth, culture and sports, said in the capital, Kigali.
The death toll could increase when the Gacaca justice system becomes fully operational as many perpetrators of the genocide were expected to testify about the people they killed. The Gacaca trials, based on traditional communal justice, are expected to begin later this year.
The genocide death toll has often been conflicting, with various organisations quoting figures between 500.000 and one million.
Meanwhile, the Rwandan government wants former first lady Agathe Kanziga Habyarimana arrested for her alleged role in planning the execution of the genocide, an official told IRIN on Friday.
The government maintains that Habyarimana, along with her two brothers, Selaphe Rwabugumba and Protais Zigiranyirazo, were “key masterminds” of the genocide and must be brought to justice either in Rwanda or at the Tanzania-based UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
– We have sent out a formal request to Interpol to have these people arrested and brought to justice for crimes of genocide, Emmanuel Rukangira, a state attorney, said.
Rwanda claims Habyarimana now lives in France while her brothers are in Belgium. They belong to the Akazu clan, which allegedly orchestrated the genocide.
Kilde: FN-bureauet, IRINnews. www.irinnews.org
