German Police Arrest Ex-Rwandan Minister

German police arrested a former Rwandan minister wanted by the International Tribunal on genocide charges related to the 1994 conflict in the African state, the Federal Crime Office said Thursday.

Augustin Ngirabatware is accused of having presided over the Rwandan genocide and inciting the mass murder of the Tutsi minority, a spokesman for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda confirmed.

"Mr. Ngirabatware is accused of having committed conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide or alternatively complicity in genocide," among other offenses, spokesman Roland Amoussouga said, adding that he was one of 16 fugitives sought by the tribunal.

German police arrested Ngirabatware on Monday in Frankfurt where he had been hiding at various apartments and hotels.

Rwanda's genocide began hours after a plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was mysteriously shot down as it approached the capital, Kigali, on April 6, 1994. About 500,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were massacred in 100 days of frenzied killing led by radical Hutus. The killing ended when Tutsi-led rebels under current President Paul Kagame defeated the Hutu extremists in July 1994.

Among other crimes, Ngirabatware is accused of having provided arms for civilians and Hutu militia during the Rwandan genocide. He allegedly founded a radio station that specifically called for mass killings of the Tutsi.