BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuter) - Belgium
has received an extradition request for Rwandan army Col. Theonesta Bagosora
from the International Tribunal on Rwanda, a justice ministry spokesman
said Monday.
The spokesman said the request, which
had been expected after a visit to Brussels by tribunal head Richard Goldstone,
would be passed to Belgium's highest court.
Bagosora, a Hutu who is in jail in Cameroon awaiting extradition to Belgium, is wanted in connection with the genocide of up to one million tribespeople, mainly Tutsi, in Rwanda in 1994.
A foreign ministry spokesman said there was no conflict between the extradition requests by Belgium and the tribunal, and that Belgium had always said it would give way to the tribunal on the matter.
"We don't mind where he stands trial as long as he does stand trial somewhere,'' the spokesman told Reuters.
Belgium also believes Bagosora may have information about the murder in April that year of 10 Belgian paratroopers who were members of the United Nations force in Rwanda.
Col. Luc Marechal, the commander of the Belgian U.N. contingent at the time, is currently on trial in Brussels on charges of accidental homicide over the death of his men.