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Rwanda Issues Arrest Warrant for Genocide Suspect in France: Prosecutor

Skulls of victims at Rwanda's genocide memorial in Kigali. Around 800,000 people were murdered over three months in 1994 | AFP
Skulls of victims at Rwanda's genocide memorial in Kigali. Around 800,000 people were murdered over three months in 1994 | AFP
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Rwanda Issues Arrest Warrant for Genocide Suspect in France: Prosecutor

Skulls of victims at Rwanda's genocide memorial in Kigali. Around 800,000 people were murdered over three months in 1994 | AFP
Skulls of victims at Rwanda's genocide memorial in Kigali. Around 800,000 people were murdered over three months in 1994 | AFP

Rwanda has issued an international arrest warrant for a top former Rwandan military official, Aloys Ntiwiragabo, who is under investigation in France over his role in the country's 1994 genocide which claimed 800,000 lives.

"We have issued an international arrest warrant against Aloys Ntiwiragabo, the genocide suspect. We have investigated his case and we are working with the French unit in charge of combating war crimes and crimes against humanity," prosecutor-general Aimable Havugiyaremye told a press conference on Tuesday.

France opened a probe into alleged crimes against humanity by Ntiwiragabo after he was found in the suburbs of the city of Orleans, about 100 kilometers south-west of Paris.

French investigative news site Mediapart tracked down the former Rwandan spy chief, who had been identified by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) as one of the architects of the genocide.

Neither the ICTR, Interpol, France nor Rwanda were actively seeking him now and had dropped arrest warrants years ago.

The revelation of his whereabouts came barely two months after another suspected genocide architect, Felicien Kabuga, was arrested on the fringes of Paris.

Kabuga, who evaded police in several countries for 25 years, is accused of financing the genocide.

Kabuga had asked for a trial in France, citing frail health and claiming the UN court in Africa would be biased against him, and possibly hand him over to Rwandan authorities.

A team of prosecutors and investigators from the international tribunal handling Rwanda genocide matters arrived in Kigali Tuesday for a two-week visit to investigate and gather evidence on Kabuga and other genocide suspects at large.

France has long been known as a hiding place for wanted genocide suspects and French investigators currently have dozens of cases underway.

A plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana, from Rwanda's Hutu majority, was shot down in Kigali on April 6, 1994, unleashing the killing spree that would leave mainly Tutsis but also moderate Hutus dead.

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Kremlin Says Christmas Ceasefire Proposed by Ukraine Depends on Reaching Peace Deal

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russia's President with Iranian President in Ashgabat on December 12, 2025. (Photo by Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL / AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russia's President with Iranian President in Ashgabat on December 12, 2025. (Photo by Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL / AFP)
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Kremlin Says Christmas Ceasefire Proposed by Ukraine Depends on Reaching Peace Deal

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russia's President with Iranian President in Ashgabat on December 12, 2025. (Photo by Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL / AFP)
In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russia's President with Iranian President in Ashgabat on December 12, 2025. (Photo by Alexander KAZAKOV / POOL / AFP)

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that a Christmas truce that Ukraine has proposed would depend on whether a peace deal is reached or not.

Russia does not want a ceasefire that would allow Kyiv to prepare for further fighting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

He added that Moscow had not yet seen details of proposals on NATO-style security guarantees for Ukraine that US and European officials said Washington has offered to provide, according to Reuters.

World

Zelenskyy Says Peace Proposals to End War in Ukraine Could Be Presented to Russia within Days 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy listens during a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy listens during a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP)
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Zelenskyy Says Peace Proposals to End War in Ukraine Could Be Presented to Russia within Days 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy listens during a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy listens during a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says proposals negotiated with US officials on a peace deal to end his country’s nearly four-year war with Russia could be finalized within days, after which American envoys will present them to the Kremlin before further possible meetings in the United States next weekend.

Zelenskyy told reporters late Monday that a draft peace plan discussed with the US during talks in Berlin earlier in the day is “very workable.” He cautioned, however, that some key issues — notably what happens to Ukrainian territory occupied by invading Russian forces — remain unresolved.

US-led peace efforts appear to be picking up momentum. But Russian President Vladimir Putin may balk at some of the proposals thrashed out by officials from Washington, Kyiv and Western Europe, including postwar security guarantees for Ukraine.

American officials on Monday said there's consensus from Ukraine and Europe on about 90% of the US-authored peace plan. US President Donald Trump said: “I think we’re closer now than we have been, ever” to a peace settlement.

Plenty of potential pitfalls remain, however.

Zelenskyy reiterated that Kyiv rules out recognizing Moscow’s control over any part of the Donbas, an economically important region in eastern Ukraine made up of Luhansk and Donetsk. Russia's army doesn’t fully control either.

“The Americans are trying to find a compromise,” Zelenskyy said, before visiting the Netherlands on Tuesday. “They are proposing a ‘free economic zone’ (in the Donbas). And I want to stress once again: a ‘free economic zone’ does not mean under the control of the Russian Federation.”

The land issue remains one of the most difficult obstacles to a comprehensive agreement.

Putin wants all the areas in four key regions that his forces have seized, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognized as Russian territory.

Zelenskyy warned that if Putin rejects diplomatic efforts, Ukraine expects increased Western pressure on Moscow, including tougher sanctions and additional military support for defense. Kyiv would seek enhanced air defense systems and long-range weapons if diplomacy collapses, he said.

Ukraine and the US are preparing up to five documents related to the peace framework, several of them focused on security, Zelenskyy said.

He was upbeat about the progress in the Berlin talks.

“Overall, there was a demonstration of unity,” Zelenskyy said. “It was truly positive in the sense that it reflected the unity of the US, Europe, and Ukraine.”

World

China Reiterates Demand That Japanese PM Retract Taiwan Remarks 

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi answers questions during a session of the House of Councillors budget committee in the National Diet in Tokyo on December 15, 2025. (AFP)
Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi answers questions during a session of the House of Councillors budget committee in the National Diet in Tokyo on December 15, 2025. (AFP)
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China Reiterates Demand That Japanese PM Retract Taiwan Remarks 

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi answers questions during a session of the House of Councillors budget committee in the National Diet in Tokyo on December 15, 2025. (AFP)
Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi answers questions during a session of the House of Councillors budget committee in the National Diet in Tokyo on December 15, 2025. (AFP)

China on Tuesday reiterated its demand that Japan retract Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks about Taiwan, more than a month after Takaichi said an attack on the democratically governed island could be deemed an existential threat to Japan.

"On key issues, Japan is still 'squeezing toothpaste' and 'burying nails,' attempting to obfuscate and muddle through," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said during a regular press briefing, adding that Beijing is "firmly opposed to this."

Diplomatic relations between Tokyo and Beijing have been at their lowest in years after Takaichi suggested a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.