Ex-soldier Guilty of Murdering Tourists in Rwanda

A former Rwandan soldier was convicted yesterday of killing a group of western tourists, including four Britons, who were on a gorilla-spotting trip in the jungles of southern Uganda.

Jean-Paul Bizimana, also known as Xavier van Dame, was a member of a gang that hacked and bludgeoned the tourists to death in a remote rainforest near Uganda's border with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the court in Kampala was told. They had been in a group of about 30 tourists visiting the Bwindi Impenetrable national park, home to a population of endangered mountain gorillas. It was made famous in the 1988 film Gorillas in the Mist.

The rebels invaded the tourist lodge on March 1 1999 and forced 17 guests who spoke English to remove their shoes and begin marching, according to the indictment. During the march, eight tourists were murdered with machetes and axes. A Ugandan park guide, Ross Wagaba, was also killed when he was pushed under a truck, which was set on fire.

The British victims were Martin Friend, 24, Steven Robert, 27, Mark Lindgren, 23, and Joanne Cotton, a driver for the London-based travel company that organised the trip. An American couple and two New Zealanders were also murdered.

Nine people survived, including a French diplomat who was given a note by the rebels warning the US and Britain not to interfere in Rwanda. Similar notes were found on the bodies of two of those killed.

At the time, the US and Britain were the largest donors to Rwanda, which was rebuilding after the 100-day genocide. Bizimana was a member of the former Rwandan army, which played a key role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

After the collapse of the Hutu extremist regime that masterminded the genocide, soldiers and militiamen fled to eastern Congo. The gang are alleged to have crossed into Uganda to carry out the attacks. Three other men were arrested in March 2003 in connection with the killings, and have been sent to the US to stand trial over the deaths of the two US citizens.

"Members of the gang shared a common purpose of attacking the victims. Each of the members of the gang is guilty of murder," the high court judge, John Bosco Katutsi, said in his ruling. "This man was a member of that gang, and he is convicted accordingly."

The defence lawyer, Norris Maranga, said his client would appeal against the verdict. Bizimana is to be sentenced on Friday.