Tuesday 19 June 2012

Kagame Attacks ICTR As Rwanda Closes Genocide Courts


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.


RWANDA’S GACACA COURTS: Assessing Their Legacy & Balance Sheet


 
By Arinaitwe Rugyendo,

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.



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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

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