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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 03/04
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: The Countdown
August 2002
Abstract
There are just over five years left for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to complete the mission conferred upon it by the United Nations Security Council in November 1994. The Tribunal is halfway through its mandate, and in the past eighteen months, a number of new trials have begun. However, despite significant improvement and a marked increase in activity, the Arusha Tribunal has not established the judicial priorities that will enable it to fulfil its mandate before 2008. Just over a year ago, ICG published its first report on the activities of the ICTR, The Rwanda Tribunal: Justice Delayed. Unfortunately, the essential situation remains.
Five cases of utmost importance have been waiting a long time to be heard - one dealing with the media, two involving the military, and two involving former ministers and political party leaders. These trials are crucial to revealing important truths about the preparation, launch and execution of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The media case is the only one that is actually underway. The first military case, that of Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, who is suspected of being one of the masterminds and organisers of the genocide, opened in a strictly symbolic fashion on 2 April 2002 but will not properly start until September. None of the other three cases are on the tribunal calendar, and they seem unlikely to be heard for a year.
