Kigali

With new hotels springing up and existing ones getting makeovers, Rwanda is trying to shake off once and for all its image as a land of state-sponsored killing and rivers of blood to draw larger numbers of well-heeled tourists to enjoy its scenery and rare wildlife.

Veterinary experts from across Africa warned on Thursday that an avian-flu outbreak could prove devastating to the continent because of the poor facilities and inadequate monitoring capacity in many countries. The officials also outlined measures to deal with the deadly virus should it reach Africa.

A Belgian priest arrested in Kigali this week on suspicion of involvement in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide will face crimes against humanity charges before a village tribunal. The case of Father Guy Theunis is to be referred to prosecutors who are expected to transfer it to the gacaca courts that have been set up to deal with genocide suspects, they said.

A Rwandan traditional court trying genocide suspects has arrested an army general and detained him pending trial for participating in the country’s 1994 massacre, but he will be transferred to a military court, officials said on Tuesday. The evidence against him was overwhelming," said a senior military officer.

Bahati is having trouble with his memory. A small, slight man, dressed in an olive green shirt and jeans, he smiles nervously before answering the questions. ”Uniforms and weapons were brought by a man called Tuse,” Bahati says.

The Rwandan Cabinet has approved the provisional release of 36 000 prisoners, including thousands suspected of taking part in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, as part of efforts to reduce the strain on its prison system, officials said. Rwandan prison authorities will start releasing the prisoners on Friday.

At least 35 Rwandans accused in local grassroots tribunals of participating in the country’s 1994 genocide have committed suicide in the past five months, officials said on Monday. The suicides have all come within days of the accused persons being named as genocide perpetrators appearing before traditional gacaca courts, they said.

New World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz on Thursday said the international community could do more to help Darfur, the troubled region of Western Sudan. Wolfowitz said he was ”certain that the bank has a role to play” in the reconstructing Darfur, calling the situation that prevails there currently a ”post-genocide situation”.

Rwandans reburied the bodies of more than 20 000 victims of the 1994 genocide who had been dumped in mass graves as the country marked the 11th anniversary of the massacre. Many survivors said the memory of the government-orchestrated massacre remains fresh.

Rwandan lawmakers are studying a Bill that accuses France of ”misunderstanding and downplaying” the 1994 genocide in which, according to Kigali, about one million people, mostly minority Tutsis, were killed. The draft law paves the way for the creation of a commission to examine France’s role in the 100-day killing spree.

Kigali on Wednesday welcomed this week’s arrest in South Africa of a suspect in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide who now faces trial at a United Nations-mandated court. ”That’s great news. This is what we have been asking all countries around the world to do,” Attorney General Jean de Dieu Mucyo told the Hirondelle news agency.

Rwanda is to release a large number of prisoners accused of participating in the country’s 1994 genocide who have confessed to their roles in massacres that claimed the lives of up to a million people, the chief prosecutor said on Wednesday. The release plan comes as Rwanda prepares to commemorate the 10th anniversary genocide.