US immigrant's dream ends with genocide allegation

CONCORD, N.H. Beatrice Munyenyezi brought her three daughters to the United States from war-ravaged Rwanda in 1998 and focused on the American Dream: private schooling for her girls, a home with a swimming pool, a sport utility vehicle.Before long, she had a $13-an-hour job at Manchester’s Housing Authority in New Hampshire, her children were enrolled in Catholic school, and she was on her way to financing a comfortable American lifestyle through mortgages, loans and credit cards.

Now the 40-year-old mother sits behind bars, held without bond while she awaits trial on federal citizenship fraud charges for allegedly lying about involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when at least 500,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.Authorities say she was an extremist Hutu who killed and enabled the rapes of untold Tutsi victims – not the innocent refugee she claimed to be in 1995 to gain U.S. entry, when she applied for a visa and for citizenship.

Munyenyezi (moon-yehn-YEH’-zee) has pleaded not guilty to two counts of lying to obtain U.S. citizenship on her refugee and naturalization applications, by denying any role in the Rwanda genocide. She is scheduled for trial in May 2011.Her dream life apparently ended, it started falling apart years earlier. She filed for bankruptcy in May 2008, walking away from hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt: a $222,000 mortgage, $14,125 in student loans, $4,198 in municipal taxes and fees and $30,000 in credit card and other unsecured debt.

“She lived here for probably two years without paying her mortgage; she didn’t pay her bills for a good two years,” said Tom Prince of Manchester, who lived across the street from Munyenezi. “We all feel she took advantage.”Assets she listed included $1,500 in a checking account, $2,000 worth of furniture and $500 in clothing. She also owned a 2000 Toyota 4Runner valued at $12,000.

Her bankruptcy lawyers did not return calls seeking comment.In early 2003, she was sworn in as a U.S. citizen and bought a three-bedroom home on Howe Street for $190,000 in November, according to city records. She refinanced it three years later for $235,000.

She worked full time from 2001-2005 as a family services coordinator for the Manchester Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Director Dick Dunfey would not comment on Munyenyezi, citing office policy.When she first moved in, Prince helped her clean out a backyard pool and get its filter in working order. Next door neighbor Scott Silver helped with moving things, including her new wide-screen TV, and cleared her walkway of snow.

“She knew nothing about owning a home,” Prince said. “She never said, ‘Thank you.'”When she didn’t need their help, Munyenyezi was quiet and kept to herself. They described her three daughters as polite, smart girls who played basketball. Now teenagers, they are living with relatives in the U.S.Both men said they saw large scars on Munyenyezi’s shoulders and arms when she wore halter dresses. At least once a year she traveled to Africa for two to four weeks at a time, they said. Her Rav4 vanity plate was “Shalom,” her husband’s name.

Silver, a real estate agent, said he was shocked when Munyenyezi refinanced her modest home. He said she had consulted him in advance about refinancing, and he told her he didn’t think she had a shot.”How in the world she ever did that, I don’t know,” Silver said. “She knew how to work the system.”In a 2005 interview with New Hampshire Public Radio, Munyenyezi gave a glimpse of her determination.”I am a fighter,” she said. “I like to be independent. I worked so hard to be here. I do what I have to do to survive.”Last year, Munyenyezi obtained an associate’s degree in liberal arts from Manchester Community College.

By the time she filed for bankruptcy, Munyenyezi was working at Elliott Hospital in Manchester as a nurse’s aide. Leanne Quartorchi of the medical staffing firm MAS Home Care of New Hampshire considered her reliable.Quartorchi said she was “floored” by Munyenyezi’s indictment. “She was so quiet and mild-mannered.”Cathy Chesley, director of immigration and refugee services for Catholic Charities of Manchester, said the agency provided Munyenyezi a standard refugee allotment when she became their client in 1999.

“We didn’t provide relief to Beatrice,” Chesley said. “We didn’t have any background information (on her). We rely on the federal government for clearance of all refugees who come through.”Federal prosecutors decline to say how Munyenyezi came to their attention. But in court documents, immigration agents describe interviews with alleged witnesses to the atrocities. A federal affidavit says Munyenyezi and her husband, Arsene Shalom Ntahobali, were extremist Hutus who participated in roadblocks and ID checks that resulted in numerous Tutsi rapes and killings.Court papers give a graphic account of Munyeynezi allegedly striking a young Tutsi boy so hard in the head with a wooden club that he died instantly.

Ntahobali and his mother, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, are prominent defendants in the United Nation’s international crimes tribunal on Rwanda, both charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. Incarcerated in Tanzania, they await a verdict this fall.Munyenyezi testified as a defense witness at her husband’s trial in 2006. In her bankruptcy filing, she described herself as single but her criminal attorney, David Ruoff, said last month she was still married.

Ruoff said he may depose witnesses in Rwanda to prepare her defense.”I’m obviously concerned about the legitimacy of any witness statements coming out of Rwanda, from what I’ve heard anecdotally from other prosecutions,” Ruoff said. “If she’s convicted and her citizenship is stripped, she’ll be deported to Rwanda and she’ll be in custody the rest of her life.”(AP)

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10,000 albinos are in hiding in east Africa

As many as 10,000 albinos are in hiding in east Africa over fears that they will be dismembered and their body parts sold to witchdoctors, the Red Cross said in a recent report.The killings of albinos in Burundi and Tanzania, who are targeted because their body parts are believed to have special powers, have sparked fears among the population in the two countries, the report said.Body parts of albinos are sought in some regions of Africa because they are believed to bring wealth and good luck. Attackers chop off limbs and pluck out organs to sell to dealers, who in turn sell them to witchdoctors.

Scores of albinos have fled to Tanzanian schools for the disabled or in emergency shelters set up by police in Burundi to avoid attacks, according to the report.”Thousands more albinos across a huge swathe of countryside … are unable to move freely to trade, study or cultivate fields for fear of albino hunters,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

Tanzanian government officials have said they are mobilizing police to help the embattled population, but admit it is hard to quell the attacks.Most happen in rural areas, where there is not enough police presence, according to Lucca Haule, assistant commissioner of police.”We don’t have the resources in those places … it is not easy, but we are trying to map out locations where albinos live so that we can better protect them,” he told CNN earlier this month.In early November, a court sentenced four people to death in northern Tanzania for killing an albino man and selling his body parts. So far, seven people have been sentenced to death for the killing of more than 50 Tanzanian albinos, including children, in the past two years, Haule said. Dozens more are awaiting trial.

Albinism is a genetic condition that leads to little or no pigment in the eyes, skin and hair.African albinos are discriminated against and face segregation most of their lives. They also battle a high risk of skin cancer.The aid agency said it is helping albinos find indoor employment by teaching them skin care tips, including using protective hats and long-sleeved shirts.”Even before the killings began two years ago, albino people in tropical Africa suffered an array of afflictions that made physical survival a desperate struggle,” said Salif Keita, a Malian albino singer and human rights activist.The Red Cross societies in both countries said they need support to respond to the humanitarian crisis.Since 2007, at least 44 Tanzanian albinos have been killed and 14 in Burundi. Some organizations have put the number at more than 50 in Tanzania.(cnn)