Senior member of Rwandan rebel group arrested, Congo says

KIGALI, Rwanda – The Congolese army has arrested a senior member of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a rebel group that includes members accused of carrying out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, a military official said Thursday.

Col. Habyarimana Mucebo Sofuni, who had been in charge of intelligence for the rebel group known by its French initials, FDLR, was captured in Rutshuru in Congo’s North Kivu province, said Guillaume Ndjike, a military spokesman in eastern Congo.

Habyarimana is being interrogated over his alleged crimes as part of the rebel group, Ndjike said.

More than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered by extremist Hutus in the 1994 genocide. Many of the Rwandan perpetrators fled across the border into Congo and have been blamed for destabilizing the region ever since.

Rwandan Justice Minister Johnson Busingye called the arrest of Habyarimana “highly welcome” and said the suspect should be sent to face justice in Rwanda. The minister called the rebels a menace to the region.

The presence of FDLR rebels in eastern Congo often has been a cause of friction between Rwanda and Congo. The rebels have been known to carry out deadly attacks inside Rwanda.

Mineral-rich Congo, which is almost the size of Western Europe, has struggled for more than two decades to eliminate dozens of local and foreign militias in its eastern region.