Rwanda, Japan, Sierra Leone.

Today's three stories you should know.

May 25, 2023

Rwanda

After 22 years on the run, one of the most wanted and notorious Rwandan genocide suspects has been arrested in South Africa. Fulgence Kayishema is alleged to have orchestrated the slaughter of more than 2,000 people in a church, breaking a taboo against attacking people in places of worship. “His arrest gives the survivors hope that other fugitives still at large will be arrested too,” said Naphtal Ahishakiye, the executive secretary of the Rwandan genocide survivor organization Ibuka. “A genocide crime is too grave to go unpunished.” More than 800,000 people are estimated to have been killed over the course of the three-month genocide in 1994.

Japan

A man dressed in camouflage today killed three people - including two police officers - in a shooting and stabbing attack in rural Japan. Witnesses said the man stabbed a woman and then opened fire with a shotgun on police who arrived at the scene in Nakano city in the central prefecture of Nagano. No details about the suspect or his motives have yet been released. Gun crime is very rare in Japan where prospective gun owners must go through a particularly rigorous process to get a licence.

Sierra Leone

Heartbreak in Sierra Leone today as a giant cotton tree that had become a national symbol was felled during torrential rain in the capital Freetown. President Julius Maada Bio said the destruction of the 400-year-old tree had left a “gap” in people’s hearts and the government-linked news agency Zebek compared the incident to the fire at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris in 2019. Bio pledged to replace the tree with something that would represent its place in the country’s history.