Oklahoma City - Oklahoma.

The Rwandan Dictator General Paul Kagame and other Rwandan Officials have been sued by the widows of the late Rwandan and Burundian Presidents Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira. The two presidents along with their entourage and the flight crew were assassinated on April 6, 1994. The alleged assassins, largely believed to be the top ranking military officials now ruling Rwanda have never been tried anywhere else.

AfroAmerica Network obtained a copy of the accusation filed on Thursday April 29, 2010 with the Oklahoma City Federal Court by the lawyers of the widow. The lawyers include John P. Zelbst, of Zelbst, Holmes & Butler and a member of the Bar of the Court, Prof Peter Erlinder, a professor at the University of Minnesota and a lead council at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and  a member of the Bar of the State of Illinois and Indiana, and  Kurt P. Kerns, of  Ariagno, Kerns, Mank and White, L.L.C, and a member of the Bar of the State of Kansas.

On Friday April 30, 2010, Paul Kagame gave a commencement speech at the Oklahoma Christian University.  It appears that just before the commencement, the sheriff of the City of Oklahoma unsuccessfully tried to serve the subpoena to a stunned President Paul Kagame and his entourage.  GIven the incident, General Paul Kagame did not finish the commencement event. He boarded his luxurious jet for an undisclosed destination outside the United States. Because of his presidential immunity, General Paul Kagame is unlikely to be impacted for now, unless the US State Department agrees to revoke his immunity.

The law suit under CASE NO: CIV-10-437-W, seeks $350 million wrongful-death  damages from the following individuals:

General PAUL KAGAME, Current President of Rwanda

General JAMES KABAREBE, Minister of Defense

General FAUSTIN NYAMWASA KAYUMBA;

General CHARLES KAYONGA;

General JACKSON NKURUNZIA, a.k.a Jack Nziza;

General SAMUEL KANYEMERA, a.k.a. Sam Kaka;

Major ROSE KABUYE ;

Officer JACOB TUMWINE ;

Officer FRANCK NZIZA ;

Officer ERIC HAKIZIMANA;

These are the same individuals indicted by the judicial systems of France and Spain for the systematic massacres, war crimes and crimes against humanity and genocide of Hutus in Rwanda, the killings of French citizens in Rwanda in 1994,  and the killings on Spanish missionaries on Rwanda in 1997-1998.  According to independent estimates, From 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) led by the accused, has massacred more than 3 millions Hutus the systematic massacres of more than 6 millions Congolese  in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The filing of the case draws from the following statutes of the US state and federal laws:

1. The Alien Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1350, which provides federal jurisdiction for "any civil

action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty

of the United States," the  28 U.S.C. § 1331 (federal question jurisdiction); 18 U.S.C. SEC 1332 and 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c) (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act).

2. The  U.S. Federal Extraterritorial Torture Statute, 18 U.S.C.A. § 2340A, which provides

federal jurisdiction over “whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to

commit torture” or conspires to commit torture, if said person is a national of the United

States or is present in the United States, irrespective of the nationality of the victim or

alleged offender.

3. Substantial Interests and links of the Defendent Paul Kagame in the state of Okahoma, as provided in  28 U.S.C. § 1367,  especially the links with  Oklahoma Christian

University and the presence of Defendant Kagame in the State of Oklahoma on April 30, 2010 to be honored by Oklahoma Christian University, and on numerous other occasions.

The Oklahoma Christian University officials, who hosted the Rwandan dictator and gave him honors,  have declined any comment on the case and did not return calls on the topic.

©AfroAmerica Network April 2010