By Arthur Asiimwe

KIGALI, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Rwanda on Tuesday defended a general in line to become deputy commander of a new peacekeeping force in Darfur who has come under scrutiny at the United Nations over accusations of human rights abuses.

A Brussels-based Rwandan exile group has accused General Karenzi Karake of supervising extra-judicial killings of civilians before and after Tutsi-led rebels took power in Rwanda following the country's 1994 genocide.

The African Union has approved Karake as deputy commander for the joint U.N.-AU force for Sudan's violence-plagued Darfur region, leaving the world body in a quandary over his fitness to serve a leadership role in the international force.

Rwanda's Foreign Ministry dismissed allegations by the exile group, the United Democratic Forces, against Karake.

"The baseless allegations ... can only be construed as a desperate attempt by the organisation to tarnish Rwanda's image and to derail efforts at stabilising peace in Sudan," it said.

Karake's appointment was well-deserved and accusations he masterminded the assassination of numerous politicians were "a mere fabrication" that "should be treated with the contempt it deserves", the Foreign Ministry statement added.

The United Nations has asked international human rights groups to submit any information they have on Karake, 46, to discover whether there is any basis to the allegations.

The Rwandan statement lambasted the group accusing him as "an amalgamation of extremist fugitives known for their genocide ideology and hostility against the Government".

Another accusation against Karake, that he supervised mass killings of civilian refugees in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was "far-fetched", the ministry said.

"The allegation that the Rwandan army committed mass killings of civilians in DR Congo is part of the ongoing campaign to tarnish its image orchestrated by the (former) genocide regime and its friends," it added.

Rwanda fields some 2,000 of 7,000 AU troops now in Darfur, and is proud of its peacekeeping role.

"Rwanda can neither be intimidated or tempted to abandon an important exercise of peace support to a sister African country like the Sudan by the likes of UDF," it added.

"Rwanda's role in peacekeeping efforts is increasingly appreciated by the international community. ... Major-General Karake is a well-trained and experienced senior officer who has ably served in various senior command staff roles in the Rwanda Defence Forces and rightly deserves the post."

The so-called hybrid operation in Sudan aims to protect civilians in Darfur, where more than 2.5 million people have lost their homes and an estimated 200,000 have died in the past four years.

The controversy over Karake has highlighted yet again how the 100-day orgy of killing in Rwanda in 1994 that killed 800,000 people remains a bitter and divisive issue, both inside and outside the country, even 13 years after.

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