Ex-minister's genocide acquittal

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A former Rwandan government minister has been acquitted on charges relating to the 1994 genocide, by the United Nations tribunal in Tanzania.

Judges ordered the immediate release of ex-Education Minister Andre Rwamakuba.

Prosecutors had accused him of hacking members of the Tutsi minority to death during the 1994 massacre, in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died.

He is the fifth suspect to be acquitted by the Arusha tribunal; 26 other suspects have been convicted.

Judge Charles Michael Byron said there was insufficient evidence that Andre Rwamakuba distributed machetes and participated in the 100-day massacre.

He was accused of ordering the hacking of Tutsis to death in Gikomero township near the capital and at a university hospital in the south. He denied the charges and boycotted his trial.

Mr Rwamakuba, who is 56 years old, told AP news agency after the ruling that he was happy and trying to determine what to do with his life.