AFRICANEWS

Tanzania

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

by Dushimiyimana Jean Jacques Cesar(2,340 words)

On 18 July Kenyan policemen in Nairobi and Mombasa hunted down 10 people suspected of having participated in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. This was done under the auspices of the ICTR. Seven of these people were arrested and transferred the same day to the tribunal detention facilities in Arusha. The 8th, a non Rwandese, was also arrested in Mombasa five days later. Two of the listed people escaped. Those arrested are all notable figures, who are believed to have played a key role in the genocide, the crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva conventions, committed in Rwanda in 1994. What follows is a brief profile of the eight suspects:

Jean Kambanda, Prime minister in the Interim Government of the Republic of Rwanda during the massacres that took place between April and July 1994, allegedly did nothing to prevent the massacres. On the contrary, he allegedly helped to put in place a civil defense program which , in fact, allegedly served to arm the militiamen for the slaughter of theTutsi civilian population.

Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, Minister of Welfare and the advancement of Women in the Interim government who is accused, jointly with her son, of having committed genocide and crimes against humanity in prefecture Butare.

Arsene Shalom Ntahobari, son of Ms Nyiramasuhuko, is accused of the same crimes as his mother, Sylvain Nsabimana, prefect of Butare, allegedly did nothing to prevent the gendarmes and communal policemen in Butare from massacring Tutsi and moderate Hutu.

Hassan Ngeze, was editor in chief of Kangura newspaper which, in 1994, incited violence and hatred against the Tutsi population.

Gratien Kabiligi, a Colonel, was a staff officer within the Rwandan Army, in charge of G-3 operations, from April to July 1994. Under his authority, the Rwandan army , particularly the Presidential Guard , the Para-Commando Battalion and the Reconnaissance Battalion , allegedly engaged in massacres of the Tutsi civilian population.

Aloys Ntabakuze, was the commander of the Para-Commando Battalion, a unit of the Rwandan Armed forces, whose soldiers massacred Tutsi and Hutu political opponents

Georges Ruggiu, the Belgian national arrested in the harbor town of Mombasa on 23 July, was a presenter on the Radio Television Libre des Milles Collines(RTLM) in Rwanda. He is believed to have made numerous broadcasts in French inciting violence and hatred against the Tutsi, moderate Hutu and Belgian nationals during the massacres in 1994. He is the first non Rwandese to be arrested in connection with the genocide in Rwanda.

The two who escaped are the businessman Kabuga Felicien and the former prefect of Kigali Capital, Tharcisse Renzaho.

As a resultof the above arrests, the Rwandan government - which had been to date critical about the tribunals' work -expressed its satisfaction and encouraged ICTR to go ahead. While some people interpreted the arrests as being obviously related to the visit of the Rwandan Vice-president General Paul Kagame, both the Judges and the prosecutor denied any connection and described the events as purely coincidential. Although 20 people are in detention in Arusha, the work to be done to ensure completejustice will require strenuous and committed effort.
So far, 3 trials have begun. Some accused are going to have one full year in jail without any date of going to trial. The tribunal president, The Senegalese Laiti Kama, said that he was seriously considering writing to the UN General Secretary Koffi Annan in order to ask for the appointment of new permanent Judges or ad hoc Judges. He said that with the current system of 6 judges for the two ICTR chambers, speedy judgment is not easy.
Both the Rwandan government and the people of Rwanda are following the steps of the tribunal. Although the image of the tribunal has been boosted by the arrests in Kenya, time will tell how fast justice will be done. Will the new good image be maintained?

This strong action in pursuing the genocide suspects followed the fourth plenary session held in Arusha early last June by the 11 judges of both trial and appeal chambers of the ICTR, after which the prosecution of the Arusha based tribunal had announced a new strategy in pursuing the genocide authors.

On the agenda of the plenary were six important points as follows: First, reviewing the rules of procedure and evidence. Second, debating on the report of the registrar regarding the work of the tribunal , particularly the administrative perspective. Third, working on the annual report that the president of the tribunal is required to present to the security counsel and the general assembly every year regarding the work of the tribunal. Lastly, election of the president and vice president of ICTR. Both the outgoing president, the Senegalese Laiti Kama and vice-president, the Russian Yakov Ostrovsky have been unanimously reelected.

During the same session, (beyond the amendments made on the statutes of the tribunal), the judges expressed their indignation as to the unfair image of the Rwandan tribunal. They stressed that since the report on mismanagement which was published on 12th of last February (heralding a failure if immediate changes were not implemented), a new chief of administration and a new deputy prosecutor have been appointed, and cleansing within the tribunal is going on. The tribunal also seems to be determined to bring its accomplishments to the public as fully as possible.

The move to warm up its relationship with the Rwandan government is becoming an increasing concern, with Kigali authorities and the Rwandans clearly indicating their disappointment and irritation regarding this apparent cooperation.

The emphasis on the need for transparent publicity is indeed noticeable, however. During the above mentioned press conference tribunal members expressed concern over the way the achievements of the ICTR are under covered by the media. "There have been serious discussions on how to present the work of the tribunal to the public. To date the major press focus has been on perceived deficiencies of the tribunal while very little has been mentioned of the substantial work which is being done." said Mr.Agwu Okali Ukiwe, the newly appointed registrar.

Whereas the registrar stated clearly that he was ready to meet journalists at any time, the local press complained of being denied free access to interview the tribunal authorities. Although this problem besets local journalists it is different for foreign media workers. As an example, a journalist from New York who lands in Arusha could meet all the high ranking authorities of this tribunal in a couple of hours. The local Press are required to write a letter to the Press Officer of the Tribunal in addition to showing beforehand the articles they wrote. "It is the tribunal itself which is blocking us;" said one of the journalists present at the press conference.

Addressing the press, the president of ICTR, Kama, said that the Rwandan authorities have got the impression that this tribunal is working without them. "I think this is a well founded criticism, we are going to make efforts to be in touch with the Rwandan government." Without the cooperation of Rwanda, the Tribunal's Mission will be severely thwarted. It was announced that a representative delegation of the Mission was to visit Rwanda towards the end of last June but the visit did not take place as the Rwandan authorities were not available at that particular time. However, a visit of the registrar to Kigali in the same month was indeed said to have borne fruits.

The tribunal was given a second chance, according to one of the officers who accompanied the Nigerian, Okali. Appointed after the February crisis to replace the Kenyan Androniko Adede (who was said to be responsible for the tribunal mismanagement),Agwu Okiwe Okali is implementing swift actions to inject new blood in the tribunal. Addressing the press last July, the chief of administration and registrar of the tribunal said that he was proceeding in a very aggressive and systematic way to address all the problems which were mentioned in the report of the internal oversight office.

Geting hold of the big fishes
The administrative and judicial failures that a UN instigated probe discovered revolved primarily around two people , namely: the registrar Androniko Adede and the deputy prosecutor <D>Honore Rakotomanana . Both of them were dismissed by the General Secretary Koffi Annan towards the end of February.

Specifically, the deputy prosecutor Rakotomanana from Madagascar, was criticized for failing to pursue key figures in the genocide of 500000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Thereafter, Bernard Ocho Muna from Cameroun was appointed in May to replace Rakotomana.

"I can ensure you that new arrests are going to take place before the end of this year(1997)".

Newly appointed chief prosecutor Louise Arbour said that her fundamental target would be the chiefs of the Interahamwe militia, the high ranking officers of the former Rwandan army and the civil authorities who participated in or masterminded the genocide. She said that the prosecution strategy would no longer be 'opportunist' as South African Richard Goldstones had been.

However, the chief prosecutor made clear that one had to understand that the International tribunal could not replace the national courts. Despite the lack in human and material resources , those internal tribunals are the ones to deal with most of the people who committed massacres and genocide in 1994. With the 8 arrests in Kenya the new strategy of Ms Arbour has already born fruit.

The new Deputy prosecutor, Ocho Muna, who was appointed in early May and hails from the northern English speaking part of Cameroon, is 57 years old, and a barrister of law of Lincoln s Inn, London. Furthermore he has occupied several International functions since 1955. According to Muna the tension between the tribunal and the Rwandan government was not of a serious nature.. He complained however that the Rwandan perception of the tribunal was restricted to the Office of the prosecutor in Kigali.
This office has been the target of a couple of demonstrations of Rwandans who are not satisfied by the work of the Tribunal. The new Chief prosecutor underlined that a great deal of work was being done in Arusha and that if Rwandans had to complain, the correct procedure was to address the UN in New York rather than to stage demonstrations in Kigali.

The Rwandan government had desired an independent prosecutor exclusively for ICTR. yet with the appointment of Muna as a deputy prosecutor, this was denied. The Italian Antonio Cassese who is president of the appeal chamber of the tribunal for Rwanda and president of the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) insisted that it be remembered that the creation of an International permanent court is in consideration. The Prosecution and appeal chambers are joined for that very reason.

The ICTR mandate expires in May 1999. Rwandans will perceive justice as having been done if adequate trials and sentences occur prior to that date.

Chief prosecutor of ICTR, Ms Arbour , however reiterated that the major task of seeking justice lay in the hands of the Rwandese themselves. Indeed, the Canadian justice said that the office of the prosecutor "will never reach an appropriate scale in prosecution which could stand for all responsibility in genocide". He promised however a new strategy in which big fishes are going to be targeted.

"I believe deeply that in principle, the work to be done is rather of a complementary nature, the internal Rwandan jurisdictions being supplemented and reinforced by the International Community's efforts.
After more than two years since its creation in November 8, 1994, by the UN Security Counsel, what is the verdict of an inquiry into the ICTR's actual progress?. So far, only, three cases have been handled and even they are only in the initial phases. (Twenty -three people have been accused of genocide, twelve of these being in custody in Arusha, one in the USA, and eight of them remain at lage).

The Akayezu trial was the first trial of a genocide suspect to commence on January 9 this year. Despite continued postponements , approximately30 witnesses from the prosecution were heard within 6 months . Whereas the defense witnesses had to appear from 29th of next September, the trial of the mayor of Taba (of central district of Gitarama) was pushed by one month late last June because of additional charges against Akayezu. The new evidence brought against the 44 year old man indicts him with major responsibility for sexual violations against women in his Taba commune.

The second trial is the one for George Rutaganda, the national vice-president of Interahamwe militia. Delayed several times on grounds of ill health of the accused, the second trial before the ICTR began on March 18 this year. On 16th of June, the trial was suspended after the prosecutor failed to bring his 10th witness. The Rutaganda case is scheduled to resume on 29th of October. The Interahamwe militia, along with the former national Rwandan army, have together been the major perportrators of the genocide

Lastly, the third joint trial of Kibuye chief of province , Kayishema Clement, and the businessman Obed Ruzindana commenced on 8th last April. As with the two other trials, it too had to be suspended after one month, after the 14th accusation witness gave his testimony.

Meanwhile , the bureaucracy which cripples all UN subsidiary organs, is cause for concern to tribunal officials. There is also a problem of witness protection. Furthermore the return of more than a million Rwandan refugees from the neighboring countries, has resulted in a deteriorating security situation in Rwanda.. Most terrifying of all is the fact that members of the Interahamwe militia and former soldiers came back. to infiltrate these refugees and act to eliminate those whom they fear may have witnessed their acts of brutality.

One other problem is that the defense counsel is not accorded the same rights as the prosecution, making absolute justice in the cases hard to come by. The danger imposed on the accused makes it hard to bring them to the courts and thus stalls proceedings, specifically in Kigali itself.

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