APA-Kigali (Rwanda) Murwanashyaka, 46, was born in Mugusa village of Huye district, Southern province on 14-05-1963. He has been a long-time resident of Germany, first arriving as a student in 1989. He then received a Ph.D. in economics and later married a German woman, APA details who this rebel leader is.

In 2000, he applied and was granted status as a political refugee and has allegedly been receiving Euros 432 monthly as state support.

He has been Head of the political wing and commander-in-chief of the rebel militia group, the Rwanda Defense Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) that have been operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 1994.

The rebel group, composed mainly of Interahamwe militias accused of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that claimed over one million people, is seen as a counter reactionary force formed to fight the Rwanda Patriotic Front led by President Paul Kagame.

Murwanashyaka’s direct subordinate (and close friend) is FDLR military commander, Gen. Sylvestre Mudacumura,55, a soldier who received a two-year education in the leadership academy of the armed forces in Hamburg, Germany before 1994.

According to Interpol arrest warrant, Murwanashyaka is accused of crimes against children, crimes against life and health, crimes against life and health conspiracy, genocide, organized crime /transnational crime, terrorism, war crimes.

His brother-in-law and former Rwandan military spokesman during Juvenal Habyarimana government, Lt. Col. Edmond Ngarambe, was captured by Rwandan and Congolese forces in their joint operation (Umoja Wetu) early this year.

After military training in Germany, Mudacumura was in the presidential guard of Rwanda which actively took part in the genocide.

Later, with Murwanashyaka’s help, Mudacumura took his wife and daughters to Germany where it is believed Murwanashyaka has been taking care of them.

According to UN investigators, FDLR executives operate relatively freely in North America, Europe and some parts of Africa.

The group’s Secretary General, Callixte Mbarashimana lives in France and has refugee status although an international arrest warrant is out for him.

During the Genocide, Mbarushimana worked for the UN in Rwanda and is suspected to have killed many of his colleagues.