Mozambique to help Rwanda justice

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Mozambique will co-operate fully with Rwanda to hand over genocide suspects, the country's Foreign Minister Oldemiro Baloi has told the BBC.

His comments come after Rwandan accused Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia of being unwilling to help hunt those suspected of involvement in the 1994 killings.

"Mozambique has no interest whatsoever in hosting criminals," Mr Baloi said.

He said Mozambique would comply with international law and had sent its justice minister to Kigali for talks.

Some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the 100-day massacre.

Last month, Bosco Mutangana, the head of Rwanda's unit tracking genocide suspects said hundreds of "fugitives" were living in southern Africa despite many diplomatic attempts to have them extradited to face prosecution.

He said in comparison to how Europe has dealt with requests from Rwandan prosecutors, African countries were dragging their feet.

Mr Baloi told the BBC's Portuguese Service that Mozambique had to abide by UN refugee laws.

Those most responsible for the genocide are being tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) based in Arusha, Tanzania.

Several other countries - including Canada, Finland and France - have tried genocide suspects rather than extradite them to Rwanda where they fear they may not get a fair hearing.