MOZAMBIQUE : COPS ADMIT 4 HELD FOR PATRICK KAREGEYA MURDER

By Paul Fauvet

Patrick Karegeya, Rwanda's former spy chief, was found dead, possibly strangled, in a hotel in Sandton. Photo: AP

Maputo - After initially denying all knowledge of the case, Mozambican police said on Tuesday they had arrested four people suspected of involvement in the murder in South Africa of Patrick Karegeya, exiled former head of Rwandan intelligence.

Joao Machava, spokesman for the Mozambican police, told the independent news sheet Mediafax the four were being held in police cells in Maputo, while procedures were under way for their deportation to South Africa.

“All I can tell you right now… is that the group remains detained in Maputo, waiting for the legal procedures required to take them back to where the crime was committed,” Machava said.

Among the group is a senior official in the Rwandan armed forces, Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Gakwerere.

Karegeya’s body was found on January 1 in a Sandton, Joburg, hotel. Opposition party the Rwanda National Congress claimed he had been strangled by agents of Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s regime.

Machava didn’t say when and where the four men had been arrested, but it’s believed the Mozambican police were acting on a tip-off from South African police.

Foreign Service

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