According to the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the arrest of the Rwandan Felicien Kabuga is a milestone in the process of coming to terms with the genocide in Rwanda. "It is shameful that it has taken 26 years to get hold of one of the most important masterminds behind the genocide in Rwanda. For the relatives of the genocide victims, it is nonetheless important that Kabuga will be held accountable," stated Ulrich Delius, the STP's Director, in Göttingen on Saturday. Kabuga had been arrested on Saturday morning near Paris, where he had been living under a false identity.

"We hope that Kabuga will be held responsible – despite his advanced age of 84 years. In the fight against impunity for genocide, if would be an important sign for today's perpetrators that crimes like this will be punished," Delius emphasized.

Kabuga had built up the Interahamwe militia, which was responsible for a large part of the murders of at least 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutu in the 1994 genocide. As head of the radio and television station RTLM, which was involved in the genocide, he had called for the murder of Tutsis. He also headed a national defense fund that raised money to finance the notorious radical Hutu Interahamwe militia.