Rwandan genocide ‘mastermind’ arrested in France

FRENCH authorities yesterday arrested the widow of the former Rwandan president whose assassination in a plane crash is believed to have precipitated the 1994 genocide.

Agathe Habyarimana, who is suspected of being one of the masterminds of the genocide, was taken into custody at her home in Courcouronnes, south of Paris, on a Rwandan warrant, according to a judicial official.

Rwanda welcomed the arrest, conducted just days after French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Rwanda and said that Paris wanted all “all those responsible for the genocide to be found and punished”, including those believed to be living in France.