Rwanda says could withdraw peace troops from Darfur

By Arthur Asiimwe

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda said on Thursday it could withdraw peacekeepers from Darfur if the United Nations fails to renew the contract of a top Rwandan commander indicted for war crimes by a judge in Spain.

Rwanda's Gen. Karenzi Karake serves as the second in command to the joint U.N.-African Union force but appeared on a Spanish judge's indictment issued for dozens of Rwandan officials and his appointment has been opposed by rights groups.

"We have written to the U.N. saying that if they don't renew his contract we might be forced to review our presence," said Rosemary Museminari, Rwanda's foreign affairs minister.

"We would need to come up with better reasons to remain in Darfur if his contract is not renewed," she told Reuters.

The U.N. has delayed reissuing Karake's contract, which lapsed last year, after calls by Rwandan opposition groups and some Western human rights groups for it not to be renewed.

But the United States, close to Rwanda, has said a troop pullout would hurt the already struggling peacekeeping mission in Darfur, which has fewer than 10,000 personnel on the ground from the 26,000 approved.

In February, Spanish High Court judge Fernando Andreu accused 40 Rwandan military and political leaders, including Karake, of engaging in reprisal killings after the country's 1994 genocide.

The judge indicted the officials for genocide, crimes against humanity and terrorism which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, including Spaniards. He said he also had evidence to implicate Rwanda President Paul Kagame.

Rwanda has maintained that the foreign indictments on its officials by Andreau and a separate one by a French judge were politically motivated and lacked evidence.

An African Union summit in Egypt earlier in July dismissed the indictments and adopted a resolution to ask the U.N. Security Council to quash them after Rwanda complained at the meeting.

Museminari said Rwanda's troop contribution in Darfur was good ground for it to be given a top command position and said Rwanda had no intention of replacing Karake. Rwanda has 2,500 soldiers in the region.

"The reasons they are advancing for not renewing his contract, like the foreign indictments issued by foreign judges, are not legally binding but rather politically motivated and we have explained this in writing to the U.N.," she said.

(Editing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura and Matthew Tostevin)