Sunday, 23rd November 2008

Rwanda, ICTR in talks over transfers

Ngoga: Optimistic that talks will enable transfers to Rwanda. (File photo).

BY GASHEGU MURAMIRA

ARUSHA - The Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga is currently holding talks with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda (ICTR), Hassan Bubacar Jallow, to address factors impeding the transfer of trial cases to Rwanda.

Addressing the press in Arusha, Tanzania, Thursday, Ngoga expressed optimism that the talks would create suitable grounds to enable
the transfer of Genocide cases to Rwanda.

“It is a constant obligation for us to deal with new issues as they emerge and we cannot adopt a defeatist attitude. We are committed to
this process,” Ngoga said.

The development follows rejection of four applications by the ICTR Prosecutor to transfer suspects to stand trial in Rwanda for their roles
in the 1994 Genocide.

Ngoga described the rejection of the transfers as a challenge for Rwanda, saying that this had enabled enormous legal improvements in
all major areas cited by the UN court.

“It has been a tiring process that calls for resilience. Even if there has been loss of these applications, we have closed on a number of
issues on which denials were based,” Ngoga said.

Pointing out that the amendments are currently awaiting presidential assent and inclusion into the national gazette, Ngoga was upbeat
that Parliament wouldn’t hesitate to amend any law , as long as it is in the country’s interest.

On the issue of security of witnesses, the Prosecutor General said that the fears ICTR expressed were imaginary and purely speculative.

He said the witness department in his office was created long before ICTR’s transfer proposal and that it has been serving the domestic
purpose successfully, “but necessary adjustments would be made to array ICTR concerns.”

“We shall revisit laws that we always thought are sufficient yet the judges think that they are not. If they want us to shift the witness
department from the Office of the Prosecutor General for fear of impartiality, we shall do that,” he said.

However, Ngoga cautioned that the denial of transfers to Rwanda poses a big threat to justice as this frustrates efforts to pursue
Genocide fugitives still at large.

“The only biggest beneficiary of failure of this process would be fugitives at large. That is our biggest challenge,” he underscored.

There has been little effort by UN member states in having the remaining thirteen Genocide fugitives considered to be the masterminds
and funders of the 1994 massacres extradited to ICTR.

Most of them are believed to be hiding in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Ends