Rwandan President Sued in Oklahoma Federal Court

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The widows of two slain African presidents have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whom they claim ordered a missile strike that brought down the plane carrying their husbands.

Attorneys for the widows of former Rwanda president Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi president Cyprien Ntaryamira filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Oklahoma City.

The women allege that Kagame, then leader of a non-governmental rebel group, gave the final order to shoot down the plane in 1994. They also allege that the actions of Kagame's group destabilized Habyarimana's government and led to deaths of a half-million people in Rwanda that year.

Kagame was in Oklahoma City on Friday to deliver the commencement address at Oklahoma Christian University.

University spokesman Ron Frost says efforts were made to serve Kagame with the lawsuit during the ceremony but they were unsuccessful.