Kagame Attacks ICTR As Rwanda Closes Genocide Courts
http://redpepper.co.ug/welcome/?p=39233
By Arinaitwe Rugyendo,In Kigali, Rwanda:
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has criticized the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for trying lesser genocide
cases at a huge cost than his country’s traditional justice system known as
Gacaca.
“ICTR has tried just about 60 cases-just Six
Zero- which cost them about USD1.7bn and left Rwandans largely dissatisfied and
calling for more justice,” Kagame stunned an international audience.
Kagame was officiating at the official ceremony
marking the closure of the ten-year-old Rwandan traditional courts known as
‘Gacaca’ in which thousands of genocide suspects have been tried over the
period.
“In our process,” he added; “at considerably less
cost, Gacaca has concluded close to two million cases and helped reconcile and
unite the nation.”
Kagame who was speaking at the end of a two day
international conference held under the theme: ‘Gacac: Foundation for
Sustainable Justice and Reconciliation’ at the Parliamentary buildings
justified Rwanda’s
recourse to its traditional system because the magnitude of the problem had
overwhelmed the conventional justice system.
“In the Gacaca process, justice has been
literally administered by and in the name of the people. Yet in conventional
judicial systems justice is rendered in the name of the people, even when they
have very little to do with it. Gacaca Courts’ value and effectiveness will be
measured against the record of other courts, principally the ICTR,” he boasted.
These Community Courts virtually finished their
work over the weekend, after 10 years of trying those accused of involvement in
the 1994 genocide in which nearly 1million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus
were massacred in just 100 days by extremist ethnic Hutu militia.
While receiving a report on Gacaca from the
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Tarcis Karugarama, Kagame
praised the process for having helped Rwanda re-discover its collective
self-worth and restoring confidence in Rwandans to start finding solutions to
their socioeconomic challenges.
Kagame added that the country had no other choice
but to adopt Gacaca in order to administer speedy trials of Genocide suspects
and manage their huge numbers.
“We introduced Gacaca judicial system with its
twin emphasis on restorative justice and reconciliation – each was critical for
us. But we turned to our cultural, judicial and conflict resolution
mechanism and adapted it to respond to the challenges of the day,” he said.
He said the country chose this difficult path in
order to deal with the more difficult course restoring the unity and integrity
of the nation
“The 1994 genocide and its aftermath presented us
with challenges that tested us all to limit. One of these challenges was
redress for victims, perpetrators’ accountability for their crimes and
restoring harmony among Rwandans.
He further justified the country’s choice of the
Gacaca method; “At different times in their history, nations are faced with
unique challenges and have to make stark choices. Their response becomes the
defining moment, determining whether they prosper, falter or fail,” he said.
While admitting that Gacaca could have its
own challenges thus calling for Rwandans to welcome continued discussion in the
legal, judicial and academic circles to adapt and improve on it, he maintained
that Gacaca worked because Rwandans believed it was a system that delivered results
were convinced there could have been no better alternative.
“There can be no doubt that Gacaca has served us
very well in regard to truth-telling, national healing, reconciliation and
justice. Despite imperfections, many challenges, including criticisms from both
within and outside Rwanda,
Gacaca, has served us very well,” he said.
He said the ceremony was not simply about closure
of Gacaca courts but also a reaffirmation of the country’s ability to find
answers to seemingly intractable questions.
Although Human rights group say the Gacaca fell
well short of international legal standards, Minister Karugarama was upbeat
that about 65% of the close to two million people tried have been found
guilty. Many Rwandans agree with saying this process, which had about
160,000 local judges elected from among communities, helped to mend wounds.
A survey by National University of Rwanda shows
87.3% of Rwandans believe Gacaca Courts fostered unity and reconciliation in Rwanda while
another 87% believe they expedited genocide trials.
86.4% believe that Gacaca courts helped bring to
an end the culture of impunity with another 83.5% of Rwandans believing they
were effective in establishing truth about Genocide.
By Arinaitwe Rugyendo,
In Kigali, Rwanda:
RWANDA’S GACACA COURTS: Assessing Their Legacy & Balance Sheet
In Kigali, Rwanda:
Ideally, Alice Mukarurinda 42, and Emmanuel
Ndayisaba, 49 should be virulent enemies! And if the Law of Moses were to apply
today, Alice should have killed Emmanuel 10 years ago when she had the means
and the power to exact her revenge on him for having- during the 1994 Rwanda
Genocide- wiped out 35 members of her family, who included her six year old
daughter, cut a deep wound on her left side of the head and severed off her right
hand using a blunt machete, rendering her permanently lame for the rest of her
life. She was lucky he did not rape her. The two now live, eat and laugh
together as friends and family. Her forgiveness and the confidence that
Emmanuel exudes in the absence of any retribution is the summary of the long
story that has come to be internationally known as ‘Gacaca,’ a traditional
justice system that Rwanda employed to try over 100,000 Hutu militia suspected
to have planned and perpetrated the bloodletting that left over 1 million
ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead in 100 days between April and June 1994.
Their Story:
On Sunday, June 17th, Alice and Emmanuel were
invited to give testimonies of their post genocide bond before an international
conference held in Kigali to mark the 10th Anniversary and Official Closing of
the Gacaca Courts under the Theme: ‘Foundation for sustainable Justice and
Reconciliation.’ Alice
reeled off her chilling story and described in vivid details how Emmanuel
attacked her in April 1994 at her home in Nyamata, Bugesera District. Emmanuel
had been part of the marauding Hutu militia who were ransacking villages,
killing Tutsis and raping their women. Others did worse crimes by sleeping on
corpses.
Following the death of the Hutu President
Juvenile Habyarimana, the Hutu militia descended on villages killing Tutsis
whom they referred to as Inyenzi (Cockroaches) that deserved extermination for
allegedly having been responsible for the death of their Hutu president. Alice
described how Emmanuel’s group killed 35 members of her family including her
six year old daughter, how he beat her up, cut a deep wound in her head
and finally cut off her right arm and threw her into swamp and left her for
dead. She survived when the advancing rebel Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) found
her and sent her for treatment in the liberated areas. “My hand was rotting and
maggots were slowly eating it away. But I forgave him when he confessed before
Gacaca and we now live happily together in the village,” she told a stunned
audience.
When Emmanuel’s turn came, his story was even
more chilling. Describing how he mercilessly killed 11 Tutsis and served 12
years for it. He confessed before Gacaca and was forgiven. “She’s the one
whose hand I cut off but she has forgiven me and we live together. Her family
has forgiven me as well as her husband. I cannot imagine the horrible crimes I
did but I am still asking the world to forgive me. Gacaca has done a lot to
heal all of us and I am very grateful,” he told the audience.
Gacaca Vs Conventional Justice System:
After the genocide, the legal system in Rwanda had been
left in shambles, meaning that there had not been any other conventional
mechanism to try thousands of backlog genocide cases at the time. So the
Rwandan President Paul Kagame rallied the country to embrace Gacaca as an
alternative mechanism.
Gacaca is part of a system of community inspired
by tradition and established in 2001 in Rwanda in the wake of the 1994
Rwandan Genocide when between 800,000 and 1,000,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsi were
slaughtered. After the Genocide, the new RPF government struggled with
developing just means for the humane Detention and Prosecution of
close to 120,000 people accused of genocide, war crimes and related crimes
against humanity.
In the absence of efficient conventional justice
system, Gacaca was therefore the only available alternative mechanism to help.
With all these suspects behind bars and following intense discussions from
1994, the Government of Rwanda enacted Organic Law No. 08/96 to establish
specialized courts to try genocide crimes. Manned by only 841 trained judges,
210 prosecutors and 910 support staff, only 6,000 cases had been tried by the
year 2001.
“At this rate, it meant that it would have to
take over 100 years to conduct trials of suspects who were already in prison,”
Tarcisse Karugarama, the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, told
the conference. It was then concluded in 2001 that the unique Rwandan Gacaca
process should be applied and complimented by necessary laws in order for its
proceedings to be conducted as court trials.
“The international community and academia opposed
all this but we remained resolute. They were not giving us alternatives yet we
had a very critical question on our hands. I am happy we have achieved,” said
President Kagame in a keynote speech officially closing Gacaca at the
Parliamentary Buildings.
Despite opposition and logistical problems, the
Gacaca Courts set out to achieve a number of objectives. These included
identifying the truth about what happened during the genocide, speeding up of
trials, fighting the culture of impunity, contributing to the national unity
and reconciliation process and demonstrating the capacity of the Rwandan people
to resolve their own problems. Local courts were set up at village, regional
and national levels.
The public elected judges known as Inyangamugayo
(people of good integrity), 34% of them women, who presided over the hearings
in the Gacaca Courts. These also constituted victims and pardoned perpetrators
of genocide who amazingly worked for free and got special recognition from
President Kagame during the ceremony. “You exhibited a high level spirit of
patriotism and history will always remember you,” Kagame said.
Achievements & Legacy
As Rwanda struggled with meager resources but
with fervent support from The Netherlands, Belgium, EU, Austria, UNDP,
Switzerland, MTN Rwanda Cell and Norwegian Church Aid, to speed up trials of
thousands of incarcerated citizens, by June 2012, the over 50,000 judges had
managed to try 1,958,634 cases, registered 225,012 guilty pleas and
confessions. That wasn’t all. About 227,000 acquittals were registered and all
this totaled to an average performance of 88%.
“Despite many constraints and challenges, Gacaca
achieved more than our expectations. We have achieved great healing and built a
foundation for reconciliation and rebuilding of our country. Above all, Gacaca
helped us to prove to the world that it is possible to provide home grown
solutions to African problems,” Minister Karugarama chest thumped. But no one
else could speak better about the legacy that Gacaca Courts than President
Kagame who said: “The practice of discussion and consensus “kujya inama” – will
continue to be at the centre of our governance & development agenda. The
legacy of Gacaca lives on and its legacy will be with us for generations to
come because it is part of our heritage. This is the spirit of the new Rwanda – bold
enough to tackle complex challenges and prepared to work together to find
solutions.” He added: “Another legacy of Gacaca is voluntarism and
selfless dedication to duty as exemplified by citizens generally, and the
Inyangamugayo. The contribution of every Rwandan has been valued and the process
helped us re-discover our collective self-worth and we are confident to find
solutions to other socioeconomic challenges.”
Gacaca Vs ICTR
As it closes shop, Gacaca, as a home-grown
African traditional solution provider goes with a dent from conventional
justice system adherents who argue that much as Rwanda had no choice, it lacked the
tenets meant for high level criminal cases. And President Kagame admits: “We
invite academicians to study this Gacaca system with a view of integrating some
of its unique points with the conventional justice system.” But behind this
admission is a chide against a conventional system that tried lesser
Rwandan genocide cases- the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
that sat at Arusha, Tanzania.
“Gacaca Courts’ value and effectiveness will be
measured against the record of other courts, principally the ICTR. ICTR has
tried just about 60 cases, which cost about 1.7 billion dollars and left
Rwandans largely dissatisfied and calling for more justice. But at a considerably
less cost, Gacaca has concluded close to two million cases and helped reconcile
and unite the nation,” Kagame boasted.
Perhaps that is why Alice and Emmanuel are a true
testimony to how African-bred social justice systems can breed more satisfaction
and social cohesion. But with 37,000 suspects still in Rwanda Prisons and many
more suspects lurking in world capitals eluding extradition, the debate between
Gacaca and Conventional justice system has just began.
ALSO SEE
Who was Behind the Rwandan Genocide? The Rwandan Patriotic Front's Bloody Record and the History of UN Cover-Ups
Africa and the new world order system
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=region®ionId=5
The US was behind the Rwandan Genocide: Installing a
US Protectorate in Central Africa
Impunity and Complicity in the Genocide in Rwanda and Congo: African Mercenaries for the American New world order system
http://www.antipasministries.com/other/article181.htm
