Poor health and family ties brought Rwanda genocide suspect into custody

Eric Emeraux, head of the Gendarmerie's Central Office for Combating Crimes Against Humanity, Genocides and War Crimes (OCLCH), displays documents with a wanted poster depicting a photograph of Felicien Kabuga during an interview with Reuters at his office, about the arrest of Rwandan genocide fugitive suspect Felicien Kabuga, in Paris, France, May 19, 2020 [Photo: Reuters]

As dawn broke on May 16, an elite French police team blew open the door to an apartment in a sleepy northwestern Parisian suburb where they found Felicien Kabuga, suspected of bankrolling the genocide against Rwanda’s Tutsis in 1994.

The arrest marked the end of a 26-year manhunt for Kabuga, who used 28 aliases and relied on powerful connections in both Africa and Europe to evade justice, investigators say. In the end, his health failing, he was protected by some of his 11 children, but it was these same ties that helped uncover his whereabouts.