A motorbike rider carries a passenger in Kigali. file
By AGGREY MUTAMBO, amutambo@ke.nationmedia.com, @agmutambo
In Summary
- The ICTR which was established by the UN Security Council was meant to track down and try suspects involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in over 100 days.
- "These suspects are in some country and with the knowledge of that country or some individual in that country. That country is most likely a UN member state and is aware on the resolutions on the subject".
The Rwandan government is equating states hosting genocide
fugitives to international criminals worse than those who maimed people
in Rwandas 1994 skirmishes.
Rwandan Justice Minister Johnston Busingye says countries
hosting the fugitives will be judged more harshly than the suspects
because they are denying the victims a path to justice.
"All states where genocidaires are hiding must understand that
they owe a duty to humanity and to the Rwandan victims to ensure that
those suspects are brought to justice.
"Otherwise, history will not be able to tell the difference
between them and those they sheltered from justice," he said in Arusha
during the closing events for the International Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR).
"It is not the bad deeds of these suspects that will be
remembered as most painful; rather it is the inaction, the silence or
the protection of whoever has sheltered them.
"To enable them to benefit from impunity might be the only
assistance they need to plan or execute their next heinous crime,” he
added.
Mr Busingye was referring to nine chief suspects of the Rwandan genocide who are still on the run.
Mr Busingye was referring to nine chief suspects of the Rwandan genocide who are still on the run.
The ICTR which was established by the UN Security Council was
meant to track down and try suspects involved in the 1994 Rwandan
genocide, where more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed
in over 100 days.
The Tribunal indicted 93 people who included a Prime Minister,
government ministers, military officials, journalists and clerics;
convicting 61 of them. Fourteen suspects were acquitted. However, the
nine suspects still on the run are the blot on the tribunals legacy.
They include former Defence Minister Augustin Bizimana thought
to have been in control of weapons used to maim, Rwandan businessman
Felicién Kabuga thought to have bankrolled the genocide.
Also on the run despite being indicted Protais Mpiranya, a
Rwandan soldier who is thought to have helped train militia groups to
exterminate the Tutsis.
“Let us remember that these are full-size human beings. They are
not pins or grains of salt which disappear or melt. Some are hidden in
plain sight, preaching the word of God to the faithful, treating
patients in hospitals or engaged in various activities in various
countries," Mr Busingye told a gathering.
Although he didn't mention host countries by name, Mr Kabuga was
once rumoured to be hiding in Kenya, Mpirinya reportedly sought refuge
in Zimbabwe while Bizimana was once spotted in the Democratic Republic
of Congo. The three countries officially deny hosting these people.
Some country
When asked directly on whether Rwanda believes Kenya is hiding
some of them, Mr Busingye answered in the negative but argued Rwanda is
issuing a general call to anyone hiding them to surrender the suspects.These suspects are in some country and with the knowledge of
that country or some individual in that country. That country is most
likely a UN member state and is aware on the resolutions on the
subject".
"We do not believe that Felicien Kabuga is anywhere just want
anybody who is sheltering Felicien Kabuga to produce him so that he can
have his day in justice,” he told journalists later in Arusha.
ICTR Prosecutor Hassan Boubacar Jallow argued the Tribunal was
never expected to try all the suspects, but also called on the
international community to help surrender the fugitives.
As the ICTR closes in Arusha, it means the remaining nine
suspects will either be tried in Rwanda, in host countries or by an
after-ICTR programme known as the Residual Mechanism for Criminal
Tribunals.
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