Military

DATE=12/31/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=U-S / Kenya / War Crimes (L)

NUMBER=2-297948

BYLINE=David Gollust

DATELINE=State Department

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The United States is accusing a senior official in the Kenyan government of harboring one of the most wanted suspects from Rwanda's mass killings in 1994. U-S officials hope that Kenya's newly inaugurated president, Mwai Kibaki, will make the arrest of the Rwandan war crimes figure Felicien Kabuga an early priority. V-O-A's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

TEXT: In remarks only a day after Kenya's new president took office, the State Department's chief war crimes official has publicly accused a longtime senior official in the Kenyan government of giving safe haven to one of the most prominent figures accused in the 1994 genocide campaign in Rwanda.

Briefing reporters here, U-S ambassador-at-large for war crimes Pierre-Richard Prosper said indicted war crimes figure Felicien Kabuga has been in Kenya for some time under the protection of Zakayo Cheruiyot, a senior civil servant from the government of former President Daniel Arap Moi.

Mr. Prosper said it is unclear whether Mr. Cheruiyot, who was permanent secretary for public administration and internal security, would retain his position in the Kibaki government.

But he said U-S officials see no reason why President Kibaki, who won last week's election on a pro-reform and anti-corruption platform, should not be able to take action against the official and bring Mr. Kabuga into custody.

Mr. Kabuga, a wealthy businessman, is the most prominent of several Rwandan war crimes suspects still at large. Indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda four years ago, he is accused financing the extremist Hutu militiamen, held largely responsible for the deaths of some 800-thousand minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the 1994 violence.

U-N prosecutors say he was also the main sponsor of local broadcasts that encouraged the three month killing rampage.

Mr. Kabuga is among several Rwandan war crimes fugitives for whose capture the United States is offering up to five-million dollars in reward money, and U-S officials are understood to have been alerted to his presence in Kenya by tipsters who contacted the State Department's rewards program.

Ambassador Prosper said U-S diplomats raised the case with Kenyan officials in Nairobi several weeks ago and that it was also discussed with Mr. Moi when he made his last visit to Washington as president in early December.

He said the former Kenyan leader offered assistance in bringing the fugitive to justice and that because of his efforts, the "net is closing" around Mr. Kabuga.

Though the United States was frequently critical of Mr. Moi's authoritarian governing style, it has praised his role in the democratic transition climaxed by Mr. Kabaki's inauguration Monday.

In a written statement (Tuesday), President Bush commended Mr. Moi for his "leadership and vision" in the "crucial" transition period and for his years of leadership in the region.

In congratulating Mr. Kibaki, the president said he looked forward to working with the new Kenyan leader and helping his government "build a future of greater freedom, peace and prosperity" for all of Kenya's citizens. (Signed)

NEB/DAG/RH