Another Rwandan genocide suspect arrested in Malawi: Deported from Zimbabwe after swindle

The Malawi Police are keeping in custody a Rwandan national 42-year old Donald Dawayezi on allegations that he swindled Malawian farmers produce worth millions of kwacha before fleeing to Zimbabwe.

He was arrested by Zimbabwean Immigration Authorities and was deported to Malawi because he holds a Malawian passport, Nyasa Times can reveal.

The arrest comes barely two months after Malawi police also netted another Rwandese genocide convict Vincent Murekezi who has been hiding both in Zimbabwe and Malawi after he fled Rwanda to escape the law for the role he played in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Lilongwe police public relations officer Kingsley Dandaula confirmed that indeed Dawayezi is in their custody having being deported from Zimbabwe and the Malawian police picked him up from Mwanza border.

“He was a businessman who was involved in trading of farm produce like rice, beans, maize, and soya beans. After receiving numerous complaints we liaised with our Zimbabwean counterparts who arrested him and handed him over to us,” Dandaula said.

He said currently the amount of money which he is accused of defrauding people has not yet been quantified as more people are coming in to lodge complaints.

“We have charged him with obtaining goods by false pretence and will soon be taken to court when the investigations are finalized,” said Dandaula.

At the moment it is not clear whether the Rwanda was also involved in the genocide in Rwanda which saw more than 800,000 Tutsi’s and moderate Hutu’s were massacred.

Another source alleges that Uwayezu fled the country for Zimbabwe after defrauding fellow Rwandese, indigenous Malawians and Malawians of Asian origin carrying out various businesses in Lilongwe and commercial banks tens of millions of kwachas.

“He also obtained K31million on usury [katapila] from his fellow Rwandese by the name of Selemani and fled the country when he could no longer pay the money,” said the source.

A source within the police who is privy to the arrest said Uwayezu once served in the Rwandan military before he fled the country for undisclosed reasons.

‘’While in the country he was operating shops in Lilongwe’s popular Devil Street, which is very synonymous with foreign nationals, and Likuni and he also owns real estate in upper town suburb of Area 14,” said the source.

The source further said it is not clear how he obtained the Malawian passport.

Rwanda has been persuading their Malawian counterparts to send back home Rwandan nationals who were allegedly involved in the 1994 genocide who have been hiding in the country but failed to make any breakthrough because of the corrupt system of government officials who have been giving citizenship, passports and work permits in exchange of kickbacks.

Currently, Malawi is hosting about 5,000 Rwandese nationals in Dzaleka Refugee Camp while some have been integrated in the townships of cities like the capital Lilongwe and are running businesses but 36 of these were allegedly directly involved in the 1994 genocide.

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