THE international tribunal on Rwanda's 1994 genocide yesterday resumed the trial of a Hutu former government official charged with genocide and crimes against humanity.
The resumption, after Thursday's adjournment, followed the arrival of key witnesses from the tiny central African nation.
The case has been over shadowed by serious allegations of mismanagement and abuses levelled against the Arusha based UN Rwanda war crimes court.
The trial of Mr Jean Paul Akayesu (43), a former mayor in central Rwanda, resumed with the prosecution presenting its first witness, a Tutsi woman, who worked under Mr Akayesu.
Judge Laity Kama of Senegal chairman of the three strong panel of judges hearing the case, ruled that the witness be identified only as "K" to protect her.
Mr Akayesu immediately filed an application seeking to change his lawyers for the third time, but Judge Kama reserved ruling until next week. He ordered the prosecution to continue cross examination of the witness.
Mr Akayesu is the first suspect to be tried under the UN created tribunal. He faces life imprisonment, the tribunal's highest penalty, if convicted.
. Soldiers in Burundi massacred at least 83 civilians in a single operation last Sunday night, witnesses and other sources alleged yesterday. The victims, believed to be from the Hutu majority, were attacked near Rutegama in Muramvya province about 65 km from the capital, Bujumbura, they said.