Exactly one year after assuming my international duties at the Arusha-based United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), an incident that remains permanently etched in my mind occurred.
It was on the morning of 19 July 1997 that my boss, Bocar Sy, at the ICTR offices in Arusha, informed me that we would be travelling to Nairobi that same afternoon for a special mission dubbed ‘Nairobi Operation’
At the time, I was a Public Affairs and Information Officer at the Tribunal.
We drove to Nairobi and checked into the magnificent 16-storey, four-star Safari Club Hotel, located at the corner of University Way and Koinange Street.
My boss immediately took me to a penthouse on the 16th floor, where I was surprised to find about 15 other colleagues from the ICTR, including our Registrar, Dr Agwu Okali, and Deputy Prosecutor Bernard Muna.
The penthouse had been transformed into a modern workspace, with several computers, printers, large screens and telephone lines in place. Also present were several Kenyan police and security officers.
That night, we were briefed that simultaneous raids would be conducted at several locations in and around Nairobi to arrest eight Rwandan genocide fugitives.
Our department was tasked with drafting a detailed press release on the assumption that all eight would be arrested. This was relatively straightforward, as we already had the charges on which each of them had been indicted.
Indeed, early the following morning, between 4am and 5am, the raids took place. Seven of the fugitives were arrested. Félicien Kabuga, however, evaded arrest.
Who was this “smart” Kabuga, I wondered. His charge sheet showed that he had been indicted on seven counts, including genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, as well as murder, extermination and persecution as crimes against humanity.
Kabuga was regarded as one of Rwanda’s wealthiest businessmen in 1994, when the genocide, which claimed the lives of more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, took place over the course of about 100 days.
He was also one of the founders of Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, widely known as RTLM, which broadcast inflammatory messages during the genocide. Kabuga was also alleged to have been a close associate of the then Rwandan President, Juvénal Habyarimana.
Prosecutors alleged that Kabuga played a key role in facilitating hatred and violence through his support for the Interahamwe militia and RTLM.
From 1997, he evaded arrest for more than two decades, reportedly hiding in several African and European countries, despite a US$5 million bounty being placed on his capture.
It was also alleged that tracking Kabuga was dangerous work for journalists. For example, on 16 January 2003, Kenyan freelance journalist William Munuhe was found dead in his apartment in Nairobi. Munuhe was reportedly planning a sting operation with the FBI to help arrest Kabuga by posing as a businessman.
Then, after 26 years on the run, Kabuga was arrested on 16 May 2020 in Asnières-sur-Seine, on the outskirts of Paris.
In September 2022, 28 years after the Rwandan genocide, Kabuga appeared before a Trial Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague to face the charges against him.
However, due to health complications and dementia, the trial could not proceed to conclusion.
On May 16, 2026, Kabuga died.
As journalist Lucy Gaynor wrote, “For the UN Office of the Prosecutor, Kabuga was their Moby Dick, their white whale, who evaded them for 26 years.”
