Aloys Simba

Aloys Simba was born on 28 December 1938 in Musebeya commune in Gikongoro prefecture, Rwanda. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Rwandan armed forces but retired at the time of the alleged facts. After completing his studies at the Military School of Rwanda, he commanded several army units between 1963 and 1967, and even fought alongside Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire. In 1973, Aloys Simba joined the group “The Comrades of 15 July” which brought to power Juvenal Habyarimana. After a brief spell as Minister of Information, he moved to the Ministry of Defence and was in charge of the Kigali military camp. Between 1980 and 1988, he became a Deputy in the National Assembly then President of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND French acronym). In 1993, he resigned from his various functions. In 1994, he was appointed Civil Defence Councillor for the Gikongoro and Butare prefectures.

According to the ICTR verdict dated 13 December 2005, Aloys Simba exercised de facto command and control over the military, the gendarmes, the Interahamwe, the militias and civilian Hutus in the Gikongoro prefecture and also in certain parts of the Butare prefecture during the months of April, May and June 1994.

Aloys Simba reportedly organised and planned the recruitment and training of the Interahamwe and the young Hutus who took part in the genocide in various parts of the Gikongoro prefecture. In order to do so he set up training camps for these militias in Kigeme and Mbuga. He was also reported as having conducted a census of the Hutus and Tutsis in the prefecture. Finally, he was also said to have armed the militias who had perpetrated the massacres in the prefectures of Gikongoro and Butare.

Aloys Simba was arrested in Senegal on 27 November 2001. On 9 March 2002, Simba was handed over to the authorities of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) who served him with his bill of indictment. On 11 March 2002, he was transferred to Arusha, the seat of the ICTR.