Previously restricted UN correspondences, which l have gone through reveal how the United Nations was sure of Felicen Kabuga’s presence in Kenya where he was being shielded by powerful politicians until he fled to France with a fake name.
Kabuga, who died yesterday in custody at the Hague, was a Rwandan businessman who bankrolled the Rwandan genocide. He would later flee Rwanda and became a fugitive in Kenya as international law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, made futile attempts to arrest him. Informers recruited to track him down, died mysteriously.
In May 2008, Hassan B Jallow (Chief Prosecutor ICTR and Under-Secretary-General UN), wrote to His Excellency Ban Ki-Moon , the UN Secretary General informing him about the presence of Kabuga in Kenya based on reliable evidence.
According to information provided to Ki-Moon, Kabuga entered Kenya on 3rd September 1994 and was granted a visitor visa. In March 1995, he was issued with a two year residence and business visa.
The business visa was issued on the grounds that he was the Director of Establissements Kabuga Felicien and the owner of Dumezy Freighters Ltd (both registered in Kenya) and after he made a fixed deposit of 10 million Kenya shillings with the Commercial Bank of Africa Ltd.
In early 1997 when Kabuga applied for a renewal of his residence and business permit, a senior Kenyan Immigration Officer recognised him and wrote to his senior informing him that Kabuga was suspected to be involved in the genocide through his relationship.
Consequently, on 14th May 1997, Kabuga was arrested by the Kenya Police and detained at the Kilimani Police Station in Nairobi on the orders of the Principal Immigration Officer. His residence permit was cancelled on 20th May, and he was scheduled to be deported to stand trial.
However, a senior figure intervened, and Kabuga was released on the same day and told to leave Kenya quietly by the immigration.
However two weeks later on on 3rd June 1997, the Director, Liaison Department in the Office of the President at Harambee House, wrote to the Principal Immigration Officer to stop the deportation of Kabuga until further discussions were held.
In July 1997, the ICTR, together with the Kenya Police made an attempt to arrest 10 suspects, including Kabuga, at his residence at the Jemina Court apartment in Kilimani. What they didn’t know was that they had been tricked into a wild goose chase. Someone senior in the government tipped off Kabuga, who fled the residence just before the team arrived.
In 2002, the ICTR enlisted the services of an informant who could help them track down Kabuga. According to the plan, the informant was to trick Kabuga into a meeting which was to be raided by ICTR investigators backed by the Kenya Police. Unfortunately, in January 2003, the informant was found murdered just a day before he was due to meet with Kabuga in Nairobi. The death was suspected to be connected with the efforts to arrest Kabuga. According to the UN , the mysterious death was never investigated by the Kenya Police.
Between 1997 and 2007, the UN received a series of credible tip offs on the sightings of Kabuga in different different parts of the country. He was seen in the company of ordinary citizens and former government officials who had served in Moi’s government, as well as visiting doctors and estate agents. The UN. ICTR tracking team shared these reports with the Kenya Police , who took no action.
According to the UN documents in May 2005, the ICTR tracking team managed to track down Kabuga to a Villa in Athi River, which was heavily guarded by the police. But just before the team backed up by Kenya Police stormed the building, someone tipped off Kabuga, who hurriedly left the villa before ICTR investigators and Kenya Police arrived .
During that period, Kabuga owned a number of properties and operated a string of businesses in Kenya.
His most prominent property was known as “Spanish Villa,” which he purchased in Nairobi on 13th November 1995 at Kenya Shillings 6 million. His other business or property interests included:
(1) Establishments Kabuga Felicien
(2) Dumezy Freighters
(3) Zadock United Company Ltd
(4) Nshikaben Agencies Ltd
(5) Zadock Transporters
(6) Ndimo Enterprises
(7) Wida Agencies
(8) In-Store Promotion
All these businesses were registered in Kenya.
The UN also established that Kabuga operated the following bank accounts in Kenya:
Commercial Bank of Africa account numbers 102760018 and 102760028. Interestingly when the ICTR Prosecutor visited Kenya in August to discuss Kabuga’s presence in Kenya, the bank hurriedly wrote to Kabuga telling him to close the account as the bank no longer wished to continue doing business with him.
He also held an account with Barclays Bank of Kenya Ltd; and another one at the Family Finance Ltd.
In a letter to Ban Ki-Moon, Jallow complained:
“All the banks have refused to cooperate with the Task Force. So far, no action has been taken by the Kenya authorities to compel such cooperation and to seek judicial orders freezing the accounts.’
With the net closing in, Kabuga left Kenya quietly and settled in France with a fake name. On May 16, 2020, after 26 years on the run, the French police located the then-84-year-old living under a false identity in an apartment in Asnières-sur-Seine, a suburb near Paris.
