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Question for written answer E-5405/2010 to the Commission Rule 117 Willy Meyer (GUE/NGL) Subject: Asylum granted to Rwandan genocide suspect Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, a former confidant of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, has been granted political refugee status in South Africa, although he is wanted in Spain, France and Rwanda for war crimes. He has never been brought to trial because his position as Rwandan ambassador in India afforded him diplomatic immunity. General Nyamwasa is believed to have been behind the massacres of the civilian populations of Byumba and Ruhengeri and the murder of four Spanish citizens – Joaquim Vallmajó, Flors Sirera, Manuel Madrazo and Luis Valtueña – who had witnessed the slaughter of Hutus in Ruhengeri. The French anti-terrorist judge Jean-Louis Bruguière has also accused General Nyamwasa , together with nine other officials, of assassinating the former Rwandan President, Juvénal Habyarimana. General Nyamwasa has been living in a residential district of South Africa for several months and has not been detained by the authorities, despite the outstanding Interpol arrest warrant against him. Rwanda and South Africa are parties to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and therefore recognise that, as per Article 1 of the Convention, ‘genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which [the contracting parties] undertake to prevent and to punish’. The Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and South Africa, the legal basis for relations between them, states, in Article 4, that political dialogue between the parties must cover all aspects of the partnership, including political cooperation. Similarly, the Cotonou Agreement includes a political dimension, reflected in Article 8, which stipulates that the parties ‘shall regularly engage in … political dialogue’. Is the Commission aware of these facts? What does it think of the decision to grant refugee status to a person accused of genocide and war crimes? Does it intend to raise this matter in connection with the EU-South Africa association agreement? Does the Commission intend take action to encourage South Africa to revoke General Nyamwasa’s refugee status so that the extradition order against him can be enforced? 823268.EN PE 446.145.

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Nyamwasa-Q-And-A.Pdf
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