Politics, paperwork slow unloved Rwanda tribunal

NAIROBI – To its critics, the UN tribunal trying the masterminds of Rwanda’s genocide perfectly illustrates the maxim that justice delayed is justice denied.

A decade on, the court in Tanzania is scorned by Rwanda’s legions of bereaved after producing just 21 judgements – the sorry result of incompetence and mismanagement, they say. Perhaps worst of all, in their view, is that the court’s slow pace has prevented it from becoming a symbol of human rights on a continent where the misdeeds of the mighty often go unpunished.To its friends, the reality is a little different.They say that tracking down the fugitive killers, many of them wealthy men, is not easy when prosecutors must work with governments in Africa and beyond that are either uninterested in, or actively hostile to, its mission.Then there is the challenge of placing handcuffs on suspects hiding deep in the war-ravaged jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Zaire, where they fled in 1994.”International justice at work is not national justice at work.The complexities of both can’t be compared,” tribunal spokesman Roland Amoussouga said by telephone from Arusha, the town where the court is located.”Only those privy to it can appreciate the amount of work, time, dedication and sacrifice this requires.”The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was set up in November 1994 but it was only in January 1997 that it began its first trial of the 1994 killings of 800 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by Hutu extremists.It has arrested 66 of the 81 people it has indicted for genocide-related crimes, and the court’s nine full-time judges have convicted 18 and acquitted three.Analysts say a key obstacle to progress has been political – a history of poor relations between the court and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.His Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) rebels ended the genocide, but human rights groups say they carried out reprisal killings of as many as 30 000 people in the process.Former chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte wanted to probe the possible involvement of the RPA in the killings.”The current Rwandan government cannot claim to support reconciliation and an end to impunity while blocking cases involving its own troops,” the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank, said.Kagame’s government was outraged by the accusation.- Nampa-ReutersPerhaps worst of all, in their view, is that the court’s slow pace has prevented it from becoming a symbol of human rights on a continent where the misdeeds of the mighty often go unpunished.To its friends, the reality is a little different.They say that tracking down the fugitive killers, many of them wealthy men, is not easy when prosecutors must work with governments in Africa and beyond that are either uninterested in, or actively hostile to, its mission.Then there is the challenge of placing handcuffs on suspects hiding deep in the war-ravaged jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Zaire, where they fled in 1994.”International justice at work is not national justice at work.The complexities of both can’t be compared,” tribunal spokesman Roland Amoussouga said by telephone from Arusha, the town where the court is located.”Only those privy to it can appreciate the amount of work, time, dedication and sacrifice this requires.”The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was set up in November 1994 but it was only in January 1997 that it began its first trial of the 1994 killings of 800 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by Hutu extremists.It has arrested 66 of the 81 people it has indicted for genocide-related crimes, and the court’s nine full-time judges have convicted 18 and acquitted three.Analysts say a key obstacle to progress has been political – a history of poor relations between the court and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.His Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) rebels ended the genocide, but human rights groups say they carried out reprisal killings of as many as 30 000 people in the process.Former chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte wanted to probe the possible involvement of the RPA in the killings.”The current Rwandan government cannot claim to support reconciliation and an end to impunity while blocking cases involving its own troops,” the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank, said.Kagame’s government was outraged by the accusation.- Nampa-Reuters