Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Charlotte Graham-McLay

Morning Mail: Rwanda’s ‘prosecute or extradite’ request to Australia, Ukraine death toll revealed, NSW search for bodies continues

An illustrative depicting two men walking away from a number of graves set against the backdrop of the Rwandan flag

Good morning.

Rwanda has asked Australia to “prosecute or extradite” two men it believes are living in Australia who they accuse of participating in the country’s brutal genocide 30 years ago. As part of a year-long investigation, Guardian Australia/Four Corners travelled to Rwanda to investigate the allegations.

Meanwhile, Australia’s youngest housing minister says she’s a Yimby who’s happy to foot the bill for developers’ council fees, while the death toll for Ukraine’s soldiers reaches 31,000.

Australia

Luke Davies and Jesse Baird
Luke Davies (left) and Jesse Baird (right). Composite: NSW Police/Network 10

World

Ukraine’s defense minister, Rustem Umerov.
Ukraine’s defense minister, Rustem Umerov. Photograph: Alessio Mamo

Full Story

Ben Doherty (left) and survivor Chaliroti Mutegarugori at a family cemetery standing near a cross gravestone
Ben Doherty (left) and survivor Chaliroti Mutegarugori at a family cemetery. Photograph: Amos Roberts

“Genocide isn’t a crime that grows old”: a special Guardian Australia/Four Corners investigation

Thirty years after one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century, Guardian reporter Ben Doherty travels to Rwanda to investigate claims by Rwandan authorities that two men they believe are living in Australia allegedly participated in genocide. Doherty speaks to genocide survivors, learns first-hand of Rwanda’s difficult path to reconciliation and investigates questions about Australia’s screening processes and willingness to investigate alleged war crimes.

In this special episode of Full Story, we hear what was discovered in this year-long joint investigation from Four Corners and Guardian Australia.

In-depth

Frida Umuhoza holding one of her mto
Frida Umuhoza is a survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins/The Guardian

“The one image that tormented me for years,” says Frida Umuhoza, “was my mother’s head being chopped off as she was beheaded.”

Her words are a weight on the quiet of a school auditorium in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, where she now lives. “Those memories,” the survivor of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide says, “those images don’t leave you.”

Umuhoza doesn’t know Celestin Munyaburanga – one of the men accused of participation in the genocide who is now believed to be living in Australia. He was not involved in the brutal attack on her family. But she is from the same region as the former school headmaster. And the news that he – and others accused of similar involvement in the pogrom – might be here, is unsettling.

“Where are these people?” she says. “Do they watch us? Do they know where we are?“

Not the news

Sir Paul McCartney.
Sir Paul McCartney. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

Paul McCartney has revealed the origin of his famous Yesterday lyric, “I said something wrong.” It’s long been assumed to refer to a romantic relationship, but apparently he actually regretted being rude to his mum. Macca said his mother was “talking posh” and he had upbraided her about it.

“I went ‘Arsk! Arsk! It’s ask mum.’ And she got a little bit embarrassed. I remember later thinking ‘God, I wish I’d never said that’. And it stuck with me. After she died I thought ‘Oh fuck, I really wish … ’”

McCartney wrote the song when he was 24, almost a decade after his mother, Mary, died of cancer.

The world of sport

Australia’s Glenn Maxwell.
Australia’s Glenn Maxwell. Photograph: Michael Bradley/AFP/Getty Images

Media roundup

Labor’s primary vote has dropped ahead of the Dunkley byelection, while the PM’s approval ratings remain in negative territory, the Australian reports, citing Newspoll figures. The Advertiser says that Australia’s biggest arts festival, the Adelaide Fringe, is accused of “inflating” attendance records to bolster its case for more taxpayer funding after luring popular free events into its program.

What’s happening today

  • Natural disasters | A Unicef report released today says children who experience natural disasters are more likely to earn less and face a mood or substance use disorder, costing the economy billions a year.

  • Diplomacy | Australia has entered a consular race to the Pacific, but the Lowy Institute’s latest global diplomacy index says the nation is punching below its weight in the diplomatic stakes.

Sign up

If you would like to receive this Morning Mail update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here. And finish your day with a three-minute snapshot of the day’s main news. Sign up for our Afternoon Update newsletter here.

Prefer notifications? If you’re reading this in our app, just click here and tap “Get notifications” on the next screen for an instant alert when we publish every morning.

Brain teaser

And finally, here are the Guardian’s crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.