The Democratic Republic of Congo has transferred a key Rwandan suspect to the international tribunal responsible for trying the main perpetrators of Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
The former mayor of the Rwandan town of Kivumu, Gregoire Ndahimana, was sent Sunday to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda based in Arusha, Tanzania.
He is accused of orchestrating the deaths of at least 2,000 ethnic Tutsis living in his town, who were killed when the church they sought refuge in was bulldozed.
The tribunal had threatened to appeal to the United Nations Security Council after Congolese authorities delayed Ndahimana's extradition. Ndahimana was arrested last month by Congolese forces in the North Kivu Province in eastern Congo.
Congolese Communications Minister Lambert Mende says he now expects Rwanda and European countries to do their part in handing over suspects accused of atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Eastern Congo is a stronghold for members of the Rwandan Hutu rebel group known as the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), who fled there after allegedly taking part in the 1994 genocide. Some senior members reside in other countries, including Germany and France.
Some information for this report provided by Reuters and AFP.
