Malawi releases Rwandan Genocide fugitive

BY GASHEGU MURAMIRA
The New Times
January 22, 2010

A Genocide fugitive recently arrested in Malawi, Charles Bandora, has been released under unclear circumstances, The New Times has learnt.

According to a highly placed source who preferred anonymity, the ex- senior official of the former ruling party in Rwanda, the MRND, was let off the hook last week a few days after his arrest.

Bandora was arrested a fortnight ago by Malawi’s Criminal Intelligence Department (CID) on Devil Street, near Mugasa House, where he allegedly operated a business.

“It’s true he is out of jail and his whereabouts are still unknown up to now. But there are reports that he has escaped to Zimbabwe,” the source said.

The Genocide suspect, a former businessman in Ngenda, now Eastern Province, faces charges that include; Genocide, complicity in Genocide, conspiracy to commit Genocide, extermination, murder as a crime against humanity and organized crime.

By press time, efforts to reach Malawi’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Wezi Kayira, for a comment on reports of Bandora’s release, were futile as repeated calls went unanswered.

When contacted, Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga said that he had heard about the development, but hastened to add that he has not got any official communication to that effect.

“I have no official communication about that. What we are trying to do is to establish where he escaped to, and circumstances under which he escaped,” Ngoga said.

This is not the first time Malawi has been reported of arresting Genocide fugitives and releasing them under unclear circumstances.

Genocide fugitive Vincent Nzigiyimfura was also arrested and thereafter left the country for the United States of America in 2009.

Born in 1945, in Busasamana, Southern Province, Nzigiyimfura was formerly a businessman.

Malawi was listed by the Prosecution last month as among some of the African countries that have rendered little cooperation towards arresting and trying or extraditing indicted fugitives responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.