Spain Issues Arrest Warrant for Rwanda General Nyamwasa

Spain’s Audiencia Nacional has ordered the international search and arrest of former Rwandan army chief Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, and terrorism. An order signed by magistrate José Luis Calama describes him as a mastermind behind massacres committed by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (APR) and its political wing, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR), during the 1990s. Calama’s decision calls for provisional imprisonment without bail and activates European and international arrest warrants

According to the court filing, Nyamwasa – formerly head of Rwanda’s military intelligence – ordered his forces to kidnap and murder the Spanish missionary Joaquim Vallmajó in late April 1994. He also supervised the assassination of three Doctors of the World aid workers, María Flors Sirera Fortuny, Manuel Madrazo Osuna, and Luis Valtueña Gallego, who were shot dead at point‑blank range in the Mugunga refugee camp in January 1997. The ruling asserts that he personally oversaw the murders of 800,000 people – mainly Tutsi civilians and moderate Hutus – during the APR’s seizure of power, and that these killings continued after the genocide through “attacks of a terroristic character” and planned massacres.

Calama lists several subordinates who allegedly carried out Nyamwasa’s orders, including Lt. Col. Jackson Rwahama Mutabazi, Lt. Col. Jack Nziza, Col. Dan Munyuza, Capt. Charles Karamba, Capt. Joseph Nzabamwita, Maj. Steven Balinda and Lt. Alphonse Mbayire. He accuses Nyamwasa of planning selective attacks against civilians and of organising the massacre of approximately 2,500 Hutu refugees in April 1994 at Byumba stadium, where grenades and automatic rifles were used to kill people who had been gathered deliberately. The judge also emphasises that Nyamwasa commanded military operations in Ruhengeri, Gisenyi, and Cyangugu in 1996‑1997 that involved systematic executions, disappearances, and attacks against assembled civilians.

The decision notes that Spain attempted to interrogate Nyamwasa by videoconference through a rogatory commission to South Africa in May 2024, but South African authorities did not respond. The case stems from a 2005 complaint by families of nine Spanish victims; it was initially shelved after Spain restricted universal jurisdiction, but a 2017 ruling by the Audiencia Nacional reopened the investigation and instructed the judge to renew the extradition request. Nyamwasa has lived in South Africa since February 2010, when he fled Rwanda after falling out with President Paul Kagame. Spain requested his extradition in 2010, but South Africa granted him refugee status and ignored earlier warrants.

Who is Nyamwasa? From RPF hero to exiled dissident

Nyamwasa was part of the group of Tutsi exiles who formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in Uganda in the late 1980s. During the civil war, he became the Chief of Staff of the Rwandan Patriotic Army and later headed military intelligence, playing a central role in the APR’s victory over the Hutu-led government. In 2004, he was appointed Rwanda’s ambassador to India.

However, relations with Kagame deteriorated. In early 2010, Nyamwasa fled to South Africa and accused Kagame of corruption and authoritarianism. The Rwandan government counter‑accused him of terrorism and plotting grenade attacks in Kigali. On 19 June 2010, he survived a shooting in Johannesburg. The Guardian reported that his wife and opposition leader Victoire Ingabire blamed Kagame for the assassination attempt, noting that Nyamwasa had “fought alongside Kagame to end the 1994 genocide, but the pair have recently fallen out”. South African police arrested several suspects but declined to say who was behind the attack; Kigali denied involvement.

Nyamwasa helped found the Rwanda National Congress (RNC), an opposition movement composed of former members of the RPF. In 2011, he was convicted in absentia by a Rwandan military court for terrorism and defamation. Despite facing multiple assassination attempts, he remains a vocal critic of Kagame’s government.

Network of generals: Nyamwasa’s peers and the UN mapping report

Subordinates named in the Spanish warrant