Rwanda genocide suspect appears in S. Africa court

STORY: A former Rwandan police officer accused of ordering the killing of some 2,000 Tutsis during the 1994 genocide appeared briefly in a South African court on Friday (March 26).

Fulgence Kayishema had been on the run for two decades.

He was arrested on Wednesday (March 24) under a false name on a grape farm in Paarl, around 40 miles from Cape Town.

In 2001, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda indicted Kayishema for genocide over his alleged role in the destruction of the Nyange Catholic Church in Kibuye Prefecture.

An estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and Hutu moderates were killed during Rwanda's genocide orchestrated by an extremist Hutu regime.

Kayishema was not asked to enter a plea at Cape Town Magistrates' Court on Friday and the matter was adjourned until June 2.

He had been on the U.S. State Department's wanted list under the Rewards for Justice Programme, with $5 million offered for his arrest.

Kayishema will be held at Cape Town's Pollsmoor Prison ahead of his possible extradition to Rwanda.