Md. Professor Accused In Genocide Arrested

(AP)  A Maryland college professor accused of genocide in his home country of Rwanda has been arrested for being in the U.S. illegally, immigration officials said Thursday.

Leopold Munyakazi, 59, taught French at Goucher College, north of Baltimore, until the liberal arts school learned in December that he was wanted in Rwanda. Munyakazi has denied the accusations.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are taking steps to deport Munyakazi, who was arrested Tuesday at his home in Towson for overstaying his visa, according to agency spokesman Brandon A. Montgomery. Munyakazi was later released from custody but with a monitoring device, Montgomery said.

The arrest is a positive step, said Andrew Tusabe, second counselor at the Rwandan embassy in Washington.

"We appreciate the development and ask authorities to send him to Rwanda where he will face justice," Tusabe said.

The Associated Press reported Monday that the college had suspended Munyakazi with pay. The next day, about six officers arrived at his college-owned home, handcuffed him and took him away, according to Munyakazi and his wife, Catherine. Authorities released him four hours later.

Montgomery said the timing of the arrest did not coincide with the genocide allegations against Munyakazi becoming public.

"We don't rush to get something done just because of the news," he said.

The genocide accusations stem from 1994, when more than a half-million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in Rwanda after the then-president's plane was shot down as he returned from negotiating with Tutsi rebels. Munyakazi is Hutu.

"I think they did it under the pressure of the Rwandan government," Munyakazi said Thursday of his arrest. "They would like to show them that they are doing something about the allegations."

Munyakazi is charged with murder and several genocide-related counts, according to a copy of an indictment provided by Munyakazi. Goucher officials said they gave Munyakazi a copy of the indictment, which they received from a Rwandan prosecutor who visited the school in December. Prosecutors have declined to provide a copy of the indictment to the AP.

According to the indictment, Munyakazi acted with others "with the intent to destroy the Tutsi population" and those believed to be sympathetic to Tutsis and "planned, instigated, ordered, committed, or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning preparation or execution of these crimes."

However, Alison Des Forges, senior adviser to Human Rights Watch's Africa division, reviewed a copy of the indictment and said it contained details that do not "fit historical facts of the time." For instance, it is unlikely that Munyakazi organized a militia associated with a party that was opposed to the party he was affiliated with, Des Forges said.

"You have to ask whether the rest of the indictment is careless of those kinds of facts," she said.

The indictment also accuses Munyakazi of denying the 1994 genocide during a 2006 forum at the University of Delaware, quoting him as saying "I refer to it as civil war, not genocide, it was about political power." The indictment was drawn up about a month after the speech.

Munyakazi said he prefers to call the mass killings "fratricide," saying the word "genocide" does not recognize that Tutsi and Hutu people lived together in Rwanda and had a common culture.

Goucher removed Munyakazi from teaching duties because the allegations are so serious, college President Sanford Ungar said. However, he has stressed that action doesn't reflect "a judgment about Dr. Munyakazi or about the charges that have been made."

Munyakazi was contracted to work at Goucher for two semesters through the Scholar Rescue Fund, which provides fellowships for scholars whose lives and work are threatened in their countries. Ungar said Thursday the fund will cover the college's cost for Munyakazi's housing and pay until the end of this semester.

Goucher referred questions on the arrest to fund and its parent organization, the Institute of International Education.

IIE's vetting process for applicants includes screening through a database used by public and private-sector agencies, including more than 25 major international watch lists, according to IIE spokeswoman Sharon Witherell.

While Interpol's Web site currently shows a notice of genocide charges against Munyakazi, Witherell said in an e-mail earlier this week that he was not listed with Interpol when he was vetted for his position at Goucher or an earlier placement at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Before his time at Montclair, Munyakazi taught at Highland High School in Natrona Heights, Pa.

Witherell said questions about the professor's immigration status should be put to Munyakazi himself.

[fush2]

sounds like junk wonder y they want him back in africa