War Crimes Prosecution Watch

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea

The Official Website of the Khmer Rouge Trial Task Force

Khmer Rouge Trials Set to Begin
Global National
April 16, 2006

Thirty-one years ago this week the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia unleashing one of the darkest chapters in human history.

Nearly two-million people were killed in the genocide that followed but only now will the leaders of the former regime face a war crimes trial.

It doesn't take long to find evidence of Cambodia's brutal past and it's struggle to come to terms with it.

Human remains still litter the Killing Fields outside the capital Phnom Penh.

But it's the concession stands and the children drifting through mass graves begging for money - which makes this tragic place even more surreal.

The site has been sold to a Japanese company to develop its tourist potential.

Notions like justice it seems have been an after thought.

A quarter-century since the end of Khmer Rouge regime, no one has yet been tried for the deaths of almost 2 million people.

Between 1975 and 1979 most of the country's educated people were systematically killed transforming Cambodia into what was supposed to be pure peasant society.

Of the 17-thousand tortured here at Tuol Sleng prison - only seven came out alive.

Chum Mey is one of those survivors.

"For 2 years was chained in this cell and tortured."

His wife was shot - his children disappeared.

Chum Mey was also a genocide survivor and wants answers for the massacre.

"I want to know who's responsible, he says, this can't happen again."

Now Chum Mey and millions of other Cambodians may finally see justice served.

They have chosen a site of the tribunal where former leaders of the Khmer Rouge Rouge will face charges and be tried for war crimes.

It's due to start in 2007 and is expected to last 3 years.

Both Cambodian and international judges are being chosen and up to ten senior Khmer Rouge officials could face charges.

But there will be no death penalty and Helen Jarvis of the U.N. taskforce says time is now a factor.

"As time goes on fewer and fewer people who either deserve punishment or who want to see justice remain with us."

Infamous Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998 and others like his deputy Nuon Chea are well into their 70's.

They fled to northern Cambodia after being ousted from power where - backed by China - were free to wage a guerilla war until the 1990's.

But like the Nazis the Khmer Rouge left behind detailed records of their atrocities.

Prosecutors will soon use these files in their official investigation.

Mass mailing are going out across the country inviting hundreds to testify and thousands more to observe the trial.

Youk Chhang of the Genocide Documentation centre says the trial may serve as a coping method for those who faced the unimagineable terror.

"The upcoming tribunal will not bring anything back that we have lost but its a closure."

Chum Mey hopes to tell his story to the court.

At 75 time is precious.

But after waiting half his life, Cambodia is finally taking its first steps towards justice.

Khmer Rouge Victims Call for Justice
Asia News.it
April 18, 2006

Let the trials of the Khmer Rouge begin. The call was made yesterday, the 31st anniversary of Pol Pot’s rise to power in Cambodia, by around 200 people who gathered in Choeung Ek, the regime’s most notorious killing field, where an estimated 9,000 people were eliminated. Now, human skulls are piled up in this site, where 50 monks pray for victims of the regime.

“We have come here to share the pain and sadness of all those people who suffered because of the genocide. Cambodians can no longer stay quiet,” said opposition leader, Sam Rainsy. “These skulls are asking us to find justice for them; we need to respond to them.”

The trials of former leaders of the Khmer Rouge are set to start this year, after 10 years of negotiations between Cambodia and the United Nations. “I want the trials to start soon," said Min Yoeun, 53, who lost six family members to the regime, including one who was killed at Choeung Ek. “Nowadays, I am almost crazy - I lost my husband, children and brothers to the Pol Pot regime.”

Chuon Sem added: "I appeal to the international community to help to try the Khmer Rouge leaders as soon as possible. Cambodian families were very miserable under the regime.”

During its four-year rule, the Khmer Rouge government abolished religion, property rights, currency and schools, transforming the country into one big agricultural camp. Around two million people lost their lives under the regime.

So far, only two political leaders of the Khmer Rouge are in prison, awaiting the start of their trial. Observers are concerned that other Khmer Rouge leaders, including Nuon Chea, the deputy of Pol Pot (who died in 1998), or the former Head of State Khieu Samphan, may die before UN-Cambodia joint tribunal convenes.

The Cambodian government remembers victims of the Khmer Rouge on May 20, called the "Day of Anger", which marks the day the regime imposed a collectivized system on the country.

Judicial Summons to Cambodia
The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand)
by Dan Eaton
April 18, 2006

After decades of freedom, Cambodia's former Khmer Rouge leaders will soon answer for war crimes, and Governor- General Dame Silvia Cartwright will be among their judges.

With five years as the Queen's representative in New Zealand under her belt, the Dunedin-born former High Court judge is preparing to move to Phnom Penh, the dusty Cambodian capital at the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers.

Among the slums, crumbling French colonial architecture and modern hotels, she will join a small panel of international and local jurists who will judge some of the worst crimes of the 20th century.

"It is wonderful to have been chosen. I believe strongly in the principle that there should not be impunity for really serious crimes," Cartwright said. "Though these crimes happened 30 or more years ago, I still believe it has relevance for modern society to see that those who are thought to have committed offences are tried in a proper way."

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan submitted a list of seven international judges to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen for nomination to the tribunal last month. Cartwright's name was first on the list, which included judges from Austria, Sri Lanka, the United States, Poland, France and Japan.

"I'm on the panel, but there is still an allocation to be made between various facets of the work. That is in the hands of the Cambodians," Cartwright said.

The defendants will be tried under a complex system agreed to in 2003 after years of talks, during which Hun Sen's government was often accused of stalling. Many of its members, including Hun Sen, are former low-ranking Khmer Rouge cadre and have expressed concern a trial would open old wounds.

Cartwright said there was potential for interference in the court and the real possibility of failure. "That is going to be one of the big challenges, and I think the international judges are going to have to work together very, very well and work together with the Cambodian judges."

As many as 1.7 million people died from starvation, overwork or execution during the 1975-79 rule of the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge, who sought to erase all vestiges of modern life in their drive for an agrarian utopia.

So far only two former leaders are in jail awaiting trial. Regime leader Pol Pot died in 1998 and observers worry other ageing leaders could die soon.

Cartwright said the trials would likely begin next year. She planned to move to Cambodia with her husband, Peter, after her term as Governor-General ended in August. "He is quite looking forward to it ... I haven't done anything sensible, like go and visit the place," she said with a chuckle.

Phnom Penh, almost completely abandoned during the Khmer Rouge period, is now a bustling city of about one million people. New money has created a vast wealth gap and corruption is rife.

During her term as Governor-General, Cartwright has transformed the role into one of a high-level diplomat and says she is ready to take the next step on to the international stage.

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Central African Republic (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in the Central African Republic

Hague asked to try two for war crimes
Reuters - Business Day
by Jean-Magloire Issa
April 18, 2006

A top court in Central African Republic has referred its former president, Ange Felix Patasse, and Congo’s Vice- President, Jean-Pierre Bemba, to the International Criminal Court in The Hague on war crimes charges.

Patasse’s security forces, backed by fighters from Bemba’s then-rebel movement in neighbouring Congo and mercenaries from Chad, are accused of executing and raping civilians as they put down a coup attempt in the former French colony in October 2002.

Charges were brought against Patasse, who is believed to be in exile somewhere in Africa, and Bemba, as well as against suspected Chadian mercenary leader Abdoulaye Miskine, in September 2004. But the appeals court in Bangui last week declared itself incompetent to handle the case.

“I have asked on behalf of the state that a distinction be made between the economic crimes they are accused of and the crimes that fall under the competence of the International Criminal Court,” said Goungaye Wanfiyo, head of the Human Rights League, who is advising the state on the case.

“There is a part of the charges which relates to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The judge in Central African Republic is not equipped to deal with this,” he said on Friday.

Human rights experts say Libyan-backed loyalist forces and foreign mercenaries carried out systematic rape, pillage and murder on a large scale as they fought off the coup bid instigated by President Francois Bozize. The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has said a team it sent a month after the coup attempt found mass graves indicating three series of collective murders.

FIDH has accused Miskine, Patasse, and Bemba — who is running for president in elections due in Democratic Republic of Congo later this year — of individual criminal responsibility in the attacks.

Central African Republic is one of the world’s poorest states and has seen 11 attempted coups or mutinies in as many years.

At the time of the October 2002 bid, four of its five neighbours were dealing either with insurgencies or full-blown wars.

Bemba’s Ugandan-backed Movement for the Liberation of Congo rebel group held the part of Congo opposite Bangui at the time. Diplomats said they believed more than 100 of his men crossed the river to help Patasse.

Africa has made slow progress bringing war crimes suspects to justice, partly because the continent lacks its own regional judicial system to try such cases and partly because some heads of state fear setting precedents that could see their own governments investigated, say rights groups.

Former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, one of Africa’s most wanted warlords, was brought before a UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone this month but the court has asked for the rest of his trial to be transferred to The Hague for fear his continued presence in West Africa could stoke unrest.

Central African Republic : ICC Reviewing Suit Against Ex-President, Official Says
AllAfrica.com - IRIN
April 26, 2006

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is reviewing an application filed by the government of the Central African Republic (CAR) against former President Ange-Felix Patasse and four of his aides, to decide whether or not the prosecutor's office would order an inquiry into their alleged crimes, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said.

"There was a case pending before the [CAR] national highest court of appeal [court de cassation], and the final decision came a few weeks ago; now we are busy with the admissibility analysis," Moreno-Ocampo said during a media briefing on Tuesday in The Hague, the ICC headquarters.

The CAR Court of Appeal rendered its verdict on 13 April, ruling that national courts were unable to handle the case and confirming a December 2004 court ruling recommending its transfer to the ICC.

An international warrant of arrest issued soon after Francois Bozize overthrew Patasse in March 2003, accused the former president of murders, rape, looting and other human rights violations. Patasse, who is now in exile in Togo, allegedly committed these crimes between October 2002 and March 2003. Jean Pierre Bemba, then the leader of a Democratic Republic of the Congo-based rebel group that came to Patasse's rescue in that period is also on the list of the accused. Bemba is now one of the four vice-presidents in the DRC and is a candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections in that country.

"Bemba cannot be judged by our national courts; only the ICC with its reputation and resources can do that," David Gamou, a spokesman of the CAR Ministry of Justice said from Bangui, the CAR capital.

He said one of the other men accused alongside Patasse, who worked as Patasse's driver and who is believed to have been killed during Bozize's 15 March 2003 coup, was still on the list "since no death certificate has yet been delivered to confirm the death".

Abdoulaye Miskine, a militiaman who became a commander of Patasse's special anti-highwaymen unit; and a retired gendarme, Paul Barril of France, who was Patasse's anti-terror adviser, are also accused of similar crimes.

Patasse's spokesman, Prosper Ndouba, said on Tuesday from Paris: "Patasse is ready to appear before the ICC if evidence of any wrongdoing or crime within the framework of his mandate are found and put forward."

Massive human rights violations - such as rape, looting, mass killings and arson - were reported during Bozize's six-month rebellion that culminated in the 15 March 2003 coup. The fighting pitted Patasse's troops and their supporters from the DRC against rebels loyal to Bozize, who were supported by Chadian mercenaries. Since then, tens of thousands of refugees have been living in camps in southern Chad, where they were joined by thousands of other civilians since June 2005 as a result of new attacks by armed groups in northwestern CAR.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring DRC, the first ICC suspect was arrested in March and transferred to The Hague, where the case is still at the procedural stage.

"Thomas Lubanga was the first, but not the last," Moreno-Ocampo said. "We are investigating a second case in Ituri [northeastern DRC] and a third is under evaluation."

He added that the ICC was awaiting the arrest of five leaders of the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), who are reported to be hiding in northeastern DRC, from where they continue to attack northern Uganda and southern Sudan.

"We believe that if [LRA commander-in-chief Joseph] Kony and [LRA deputy-commander-in chief Vincent] Otti were arrested, criminality would decrease in southern Sudan and northern Uganda," he said.

Regarding the arrest on 14 April in Germany of Ignace Murwanashyaka, the leader of the Forces Democratiques pour la Liberation du Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan rebel group based in eastern DRC, Moreno-Ocampo said he needed more information about the FDLR and Murwanashyaka and about his responsibilities in the alleged FDLR crimes before he could take any further decision.

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Democratic Republic of the Congo (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Probe into war crimes in DRC
AFP - News24.com
April 3, 2006

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has begun an official visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to investigate war crimes in the country of the court's first detainee.

Thomas Lubanga, head of an armed militia that rampaged through the northeast DRC, was brought before The Hague-based court on March 20 where he was charged with having recruited and conscripted children as soldiers, forcing them into active combat.

Lubanga is the first detainee of the world's only permanent war crimes court, which was created in July 2002.

The inquiry in the DRC looking at "different crimes committed by several armed groups in the Ituri region" and will probably lead to more indictments based on the evidence discovered, the ICC said in a statement released in Kinshasa.

"One of the objectives of the prosecutor's office is to help prevent the commission of crimes in the region" and "to put an end to impunity", the statement added.

Moreno-Ocampo has previously indicated that he wanted to "expand" the indictment against the ex-chief of the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, one of several armed groups active in the volatile Ituri region.

Lubanga was arrested in March last year after DRC President Joseph Kabila asked the ICC to investigate war crimes committed in the vast central African state, which emerged from a five-year conflict in 2003.

Ituri has for years been the scene of devastating clashes between rival militias and inter-ethnic violence, often fuelled by competition for control over the region's gold and other mineral resources.

Since 1999, fighting between the militias and violence between the Hema and Lendu tribes have caused more than 60 000 deaths in the region, according to humanitarian groups.

Rwanda: FDLR Leader Could Be Tried At ICC
AllAfrica.com - The New Times (Kigali)
by James Munyaneza
April 18, 2006

The detained leader of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia, Ignace Murwanashyaka, could stand trial at the International Criminal Court, should a move by three countries and the world court succeed.Murwanashyaka, who is currently held in Germany following his April 7 arrest by the country's police, is accused of leading a militia group responsible for, among others...

perpetrating the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda and unleashing a dozen years of gross human rights abuses on the peoples of the Great Lakes region.

The efforts to take the militia leader to The Hague-based international court are being spearheaded by the UN Mission in the Congo, ICC and the governments of Germany and the DRC, according to a release from the MONUC liaison office in Kigali.

"MONUC is now working closely with the DRC and German Governments and the International Criminal Court with a view to pursue a case against Murwanashyaka in connection with his presidency of the FDLR," the one-page release dated April 11 and signed by Slobodan Kotevski Didi, the Head of MONUC office in Kigali, said.

However, contacted for details on Monday, Didi was reluctant to comment on the issue, saying he needed authorisation from his superiors in Kisangani, DRC. He asked to be given time to seek permission from their Kinshasa headquarters before making any comment, promising to call back. By press time, he had not called.

The Germany Ambassador to Rwanda Hubert Ziegler could not be reached for comment by press time.

Murwanashyaka, who along with fourteen other militia leaders are under UN Security Council travel and financial sanctions since last November, arrived in Germany from Belgium where he had connected on an SN Brussels plane from Entebbe Airport in Uganda on April 5.

Rwandan officials implicated Uganda and MONUC in the FDLR leader's illegal movements but, contrary to earlier reports, MONUC denies any complicity in Murwanashyaka's flight to the European country.

"In fact whatever part Kampala may have played, MONUC facilitated nothing of the sort," Didi said in a statement sent to The New Times.

He, however, regretted that Murwanashyaka could easily move out of the region. "It is unfortunate that Ignace Murwanashyaka managed to fly out of the region, but we reiterate our satisfaction that he has since been arrested by the German authorities."

MONUC said it had communicated to Kampala that Murwanashyaka was due to use Entebbe Airport as his exit from the region. Observers say the revelation is yet another piece of evidence showing that the Ugandan government knew about the rebel chief's illegal movements on Ugandan soil, where he arrived from the jungles of the Democratic Republic of Congo through Buramba border post on April 4.

Shortly before his arrest, Rwandan sources had indicated that Murwandashyaka was travelling to meet Ugandan army officials in Kampala along other FDLR rebel officials, who allegedly stay in Uganda. Sources said that he later cancelled his attendance of the meeting that was planned for between April 8 and 14, but it is yet to be established whether the alleged meeting took place. Murwanashyaka is one of the several Rwandan rebels carrying a Ugandan passport.

A day after his arrest, The New Times reported that MONUC had earlier written to the Federal Republic of Germany notifying it of the planned Murwanashyaka's trip to the European country. In a response dated March 03, 2006, the Permanent Mission of Germany informed MONUC that appropriate measures had been taken by the competent German authorities to prevent Dr Murwanashyaka's re-entry to Germany.

Rwanda has demanded that Murwanashyaka be extradited but said failure to do that, German authorities should ensure that the alleged war criminal be brought to book anywhere else, including either Germany, ICC, DRC or Burundi.

"All we need is for justice to take its due course; he must be answerable for the atrocities committed by his forces," information minister Prof. Laurent Nkusi said by telephone on Monday.

Last week, Foreign Minister Dr. Charles Murigande said Murwanashyaka should be held accountable for the insurgency that hit Rwanda's northern and western provinces between 1997 and '99 besides other cold-blooded murders in DRC, Burundi and Uganda.

The German government said he will be kept in custody for three months before a decision on whether to deport him is reached.

Meanwhile, other reports last week indicated that Berlin was considering prosecuting him from its courts.

Following the UN sanctions imposed on Murwanashyaka, the German government revoked his residence permit. For most of his presidency of the FDLR, Murwanashyaka has been living in Germany.

Besides massive civilian deaths, rape and pillage in Congolese villages, the FDLR is implicated in the slaying of at least 150 Congolese of Rwandan origin (Banyamulenge) in Gatumba Refugee Camp in Burundi in August, 2004; and the killing of eight Western tourists in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

Rwanda , Congo or ICC to try Hutu leader: minister
Reuters - Yahoo! News
by Emma Thomasson
April 25, 2006

Rwanda is prepared for itself, the Democratic Republic of Congo or the International Criminal Court to try a Hutu rebel leader arrested in Germany this month, a Rwandan minister said on Tuesday.

Ignace Murwanashyaka, political leader of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), is being held in Germany pending possible deportation after being arrested earlier this month for illegal entry.

Rwandan Foreign Minister Charles Murigande told a news conference in The Hague that Kigali had told the German government it would be happy to charge him in Rwanda, but said Berlin could also send him to the DRC or the ICC.

Murigande said Murwanashyaka's group had committed most of its recent crimes in the DRC and noted that the ICC was investigating war crimes there, so Kinshasa could consider sending him to stand trial at The Hague-based court.

"These people committed genocide in Rwanda but continued to kill, to maim, to rape people in eastern DRC but at the same time launching incursions from time to time in Rwanda," Murigande said.

After talks with Murigande in The Hague, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told a news conference he had requested information on the case as part of his ongoing investigation into the situation in the DRC.

Last month, the ICC, set up in 2002 as the world's first permanent criminal court, received its first suspect, Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga.

Murigande said Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and Uganda were working together to gather the information the German courts would need to decide what to do with Murwanashyaka.

U.N. SANCTIONS

Murwanashyaka has been based in Germany for 15 years, but Berlin revoked his status as a registered refugee after the U.N. Security Council imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on him and 15 others accused of violating an arms embargo aimed at ending fighting in Congo.

The military wing of the FDLR is based in eastern DRC and is opposed to the Rwandan government.

The FDLR is accused of taking part in Rwanda's 1994 genocide in which bands of extremists from the Hutu majority killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

A five-year war in Congo involving six neighboring states officially ended in 2003 but rebel groups, government soldiers and militias still plunder villages and terrorize civilians.

Murigande said the arrest showed that sanctions should be imposed on other rebel leaders.

"If these type of sanctions would be extended to other leaders of armed groups who have been wreaking havoc in our region, probably this would yield very good results.

"These are people who committed genocide and are just fighting to avoid being held accountable for the crimes they've committed and that is not a good cause to fight for," he said.

Murigande said he was happy with the cooperation of the DRC military in fighting Hutu rebels on its territory and noted that Rwanda was working closely with Congo, Uganda and Burundi to share intelligence.

"Maybe in the near future we will even be able to launch joint operations to deal completely with this problem," he said.

EU force to help DR Congo peace
BBC News
April 26, 2006

The United Nations Security Council has voted unanimously to send 1,500 European Union peacekeeping troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The EU soldiers will form part of the international peacekeeping force in the country ahead of elections due in June.

The general elections will be the first fully democratic elections in DR Congo for 40 years, but rebel forces remain active in the east of the country.

EU troops will form a rapid reaction force, mostly based outside DR Congo.

Major Hans Reichen, the spokesman for the UN Mission in the Congo (Monuc), told the BBC's Network Africa programme he welcomed the new deployment, which would help bring peace to the country.

"Having a rapid reaction force enables us to warn any possible spoiler that we will be able to react if he tries to stop the ongoing peace process in DR Congo," Major Reichen said.

The French Ambassador to the UN, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, told Reuters news agency a few hundred of the EU soldiers would be stationed around the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, with others in nearby Gabon and in Europe.

The force's four-month mandate would begin just before the elections, Mr de la Sabliere said.

The date has still to be confirmed, but is expected in late June or early July.

he current 17,000 peacekeeping force in DR Congo is the world's largest.

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Darfur (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in Darfur, Sudan

UN Security Council Issues Sanctions Against Four Sudanese
AllAfrica.com - US Dept. of State
by Judy Aita
April 25, 2006

The Security Council has imposed sanctions on four Sudanese found responsible for committing atrocities in Darfur.

Resolution 1672, which was adopted by a vote of 12-0, with China, Russia and Qatar abstaining, was part of three separate actions taken by the 15-nation Security Council April 25 to stand behind its policies on Sudan, put pressure on the parties in Darfur to conclude a cease-fire agreement by the end of April and speak out against the growing instability along the Chad-Sudan border.

The four individuals are Major General Gaffar Mohamed Elhassan, commander of the Western Military Region for the Sudanese Armed Forces; Sheik Musa Hilal, paramount chief of the Jalul Tribe in North Darfur; Adam Yacub Shant, Sudanese Liberation Army commander, and Gabril Abdul Kareem Badri, of the Movement for Reform and Development.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton had presented a draft resolution April 18 to impose sanctions on the four Sudanese.

In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said that passage of the resolution "is a down payment toward justice and accountability in Sudan."

"The United States will continue to work with the international community to press the Sudanese government and the rebel movements to stop the violence in Darfur, rein in the Jingaweit militias, rapidly conclude a peace agreement in Abuja, Nigeria, and hold accountable all who are responsible for crimes against the people of Darfur," Ereli said.

The sanctions, which involve freezing assets and imposing travel restrictions, were authorized by the council in Resolution 1591, adopted in March 2005. Sanctions can be imposed on individuals who impede the peace process, violate international human rights laws or commit other atrocities or conduct banned military flights over the region. The United Kingdom submitted a list of 12 individuals to the sanctions committee earlier in April, and the majority of members determined that there was sufficient evidence to impose sanctions on the four.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said that the sanctions "demonstrate that the Security Council is serious in its effort to restore peace and security in the region and that, far from interfering in the peace process in Abuja, it will strengthen that process."

"It should indicate to all the parties in the conflict in Darfur we are determined to bring this to a peaceful resolution and restore peace and security for the people of Darfur, who have been most adversely affected by the conflict," the ambassador said.

Bolton, who is the chief U.S. envoy to the United Nations, added that the United States is prepared to press ahead with sanctions against others in Darfur as sufficient evidence becomes available. "There is a wide variety of possibilities for sanctions and we do intend to pursue them vigorously," he said.

That the four sanctioned individuals come from all parties to the conflict "wasn't done intentionally," Bolton said. "But it does show the nature of the conflict and how serious it is."

British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry spoke of "the message we sent to the parties, whoever they are: If they do involve themselves in crimes against humanity, the sort of atrocities we have seen in Darfur, we will come after them."

"It will actually help the Abuja process to demonstrate that impunity cannot actually be allowed to continue," he said.

Jones Parry, who will lead a Security Council mission to Sudan in early June, said that the council's reputation was at stake if it did not impose sanctions.

The Security Council also adopted two presidential statements. One reiterated support for the African Union-led peace talks. "The Security Council calls on and expects the parties in Abuja to consider in good faith proposals to be made by the mediator with a view to reaching peace, security and stability in Darfur and Sudan as a whole. It emphasizes that working toward a positive outcome is a collective responsibility of all the parties in the conflict," the members said in a statement read at a formal meeting by Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya, president of the council for April.

In the other presidential statement, the council expressed its "deep concern" over the deteriorating relations between Chad and Sudan. It urged the two governments to abide by their obligations under their February agreement and "urgently start implementing the confidence-building measures" that had been agreed upon.

"Both Sudan and Chad must refrain from any actions that violate the border," the council said.

U.S. Options on Darfur Are Running Out
The New York Times
by Joel Brinkley
April 26, 2006

As the violence in the Darfur region of Sudan grows ever more deadly, Bush administration officials now acknowledge that they have few if any promising policy options for containing the carnage.

If there is no agreement by Sunday on a way to resolve the crisis, the long-running peace talks are to be disbanded. But hopes for an agreement are low.

One proposal, to send 20,000 United Nations peacekeepers to Sudan, has been stymied by Khartoum's adamant opposition. Without the government's agreement, the Bush administration acknowledges, dispatching troops to Darfur would rightly be viewed as an invasion.

" Sudan policy has run off the road into a ditch," said John Prendergast, a former senior Africa specialist for the government.

This comes as public outrage, sporadic before, is growing over the continuing bloodshed in Darfur, which the United States characterizes as genocide. States, including Maine, New Jersey and Illinois, and cities and private groups across the United States are cutting financial ties to companies that do business with Sudan.

A coalition of advocacy groups called SaveDarfur.org has organized a large rally in Washington for this weekend featuring speakers from Congress, the administration, Hollywood and religious organizations.

An estimated 200,000 people have died in Darfur since the violence began three years ago, and more than two million others have been driven from their homes. For the administration, the greatest hope centers on the peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, which have limped along for almost two years.

The United Nations and the African Union, sponsor of the talks, have given the government of Sudan and the Darfur rebels until Sunday to reach agreement on a draft treaty that the mediators wrote and handed to both parties on Tuesday.

Both sides agreed to look at it but were otherwise noncommittal. While the two sides have agreed on some issues during previous sessions, the remaining disagreements are thick with complexity and emotion.

"We will respect the deadline, and if there are no indications that a deal is possible, we will wind up" the talks, said Sam Ibok, leader of the African Union mediating team.

Robert B. Zoellick, the deputy secretary of state, said in an interview on Wednesday, "There's a fighting chance" to reach agreement by Sunday. Jan Pronk, the chief United Nations envoy in Sudan, said the mediators might be willing to extend the talks a few days if significant progress was being made, but probably not much more than that. "It's now or never," he said.

Mr. Zoellick added, "If there is no peace accord, then it becomes a different mission."

The plan to send up to 20,000 United Nations peacekeepers to Darfur, to replace the 7,000 African Union soldiers stationed there now, presents formidable obstacles.

The United States and Europe have largely financed the African Union mission, but both have concluded that it is inadequate for the job. In February, the Security Council agreed to begin planning to send United Nations troops. The Bush administration said at the time that it would support the idea of having NATO take the lead in overseeing an interim African Union force until the arrival of United Nations troops.

But Sudan has remained opposed, and Khartoum has lobbied other African states, with some success, to view the idea as an affront to Sudanese sovereignty. Some of those other states would have to take part in any United Nations mission.

Now the Sudanese government is refusing even to grant visas to the United Nations team that wants to visit Darfur to assess the possible mission. But Sudan said it might change its mind if a Darfur peace agreement was reached.

Mr. Zoellick, in a speech this month to the Brookings Institution, said, "Either you get approval of the government," or "you invade, and that's a very big, serious challenge."

In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Pronk said Sudan was even more opposed to President Bush's NATO proposal.

"Wise diplomacy," Mr. Pronk said, means "you don't talk about NATO. It is viewed here as intervention, new colonialism."

What is more, few countries have expressed any willingness to send forces or equipment as part of the United Nations mission — and then only if Khartoum agrees. The State Department says Morocco, Pakistan, Ukraine, Russia and others have made tentative commitments.

"The United Nations has been flummoxed at every juncture," said Mr. Prendergast, who was director for African affairs in the National Security Council during the Clinton administration. Now he is a senior adviser for the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit organization.

The conflict in Darfur began in February 2003, when rebel groups attacked government positions, accusing the leaders in Khartoum of ignoring their region. The government struck back with a fury, enlisting local militias to massacre civilians and destroy entire villages. The world was slow to acknowledge the problem, but in September 2004, the Bush administration stated that the carnage constituted genocide.

African Union troops began arriving in Darfur last year, and for a while the violence diminished. But in recent months it has picked up with new ferocity and has spread to Chad, where Sudanese militias are raiding Chadian villages along the border. Sudan, a senior administration official said, had also supplied weapons to rebels that attacked Ndjamena, the capital of Chad, earlier this month.

As he gave the warring groups a copy of the draft Darfur agreement on Tuesday evening, Salim Ahmed Salim, the chief mediator, said: "This is decision time. No more procrastination, no more antics, no more delaying tactics. The eyes of the world are on you."

But a senior United Nations official noted another serious problem, even if the parties agreed: the proposed agreement calls for an immediate cease-fire, but the African Union troops in Darfur have already shown they are incapable of enforcing a cease-fire.

"If there are violations on the ground," the official said, "the whole thing could fall apart."

African Union tells Darfur foes to end fighting
Financial Times
by Andrew England in Nairobi and Daniel Dombey in Sofia
April 27, 2006

The Sudanese government and rebels in Darfur face increasing pressure to reach an agreement and halt the fighting after the African Union handed the warring parties a draft peace accord.

“This is decision time. No more procrastination and no more delaying tactics,” Salim Ahmed Salim, chief mediator, said in a statement released on Thursday. “Every journey has a destination and for the Abuja peace talks this is the end.”

Talks between the belligerents have been taking place in Abuja, Nigeria, for nearly two years but with little success, while insecurity in Darfur has deteriorated.

The AU, lead mediator at the negotiations, set an April 30 deadline for the parties to reach an agreement.

“We are not going to re-open the file, otherwise we will have endless negotiations,” said Nouredinne Mezni, an AU spokesman. This year, fighting in the vast region of western Sudan has forced another 200,000 people from their homes, taking the number of displaced to more than 2m.

Tens of thousands have been killed in the violence – described by the US as genocide – and rape and banditry are rife. A peace deal is seen as key to enabling the United Nations to take over peacekeeping from the AU, whose under-resourced 7,000-strong force has struggled to halt the violence.

At a Nato foreign ministers’ meeting in Sofia on Thursday, Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, said that the military alliance was ready to step up its help to the AU mission in Darfur. But she added that the violence in the region, as well as border tensions between Sudan and Chad, made the transition to a UN force – which Nato is also prepared to assist – all the more compelling.

“There needs to be a UN blue-hatted mission that is more sustainable and more robust,” she said.

Human Rights Watch yesterday condemned what it described as a fresh government offensive in southern Darfur, citing an attack on Monday by government bombers and helicopter gunships on a rebel-held village.

The New York-based group said two other villages in the area had also been attacked in the last 10 days.

“This is no random attack. This is the result of months of preparation by Sudanese officials and co-ordination with militias,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director for Human Rights Watch. “ Khartoum’s new attacks on civilians show the Security Council needs to move quickly on a UN protection force for Darfur.”

Sudan opposes the transfer to the UN but has indicated it might accept it if an agreement were in place.

The AU’s 85-page draft accord focuses on wealth and power-sharing for the underdeveloped region, as well as security issues.

But previous agreements, dating back to 2004, failed to stem the violence and have been violated by all sides.

Splits within rebel groups have been a complication, while the government has not disarmed an Arab militia accused of atrocities. The region, the size of France, is awash with weapons.

Bush orders sanctions in Darfur atrocities
Associated Press - MSNBC.com
April 27, 2006

Measure freezes assets of four accused men.

President Bush ordered sanctions Thursday on four men accused of atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region where three years of conflict have left 180,000 dead.

Bush’s order immediately blocks all property and interests in property of the four targeted individuals. It also blocks anyone in the United States from dealing with them.

The president’s executive order implemented sanctions imposed Tuesday by the U.N. Security Council on the four men.

They are Gaffar Mahammed Elhassan, former commander of the Sudanese air force’s western region; Sheikh Musa Hilal, a Janjaweed chief of the Jalul tribe in North Darfur; and two rebel commanders — Adam Yacub Shant of the Sudan Liberation Army and Gabril Abdul Kareem Badri of the National Movement for Reform and Development.

t was the first time the Security Council had imposed sanctions since the adoption of a resolution in March 2005 authorizing an asset freeze and travel ban on individuals who defy peace efforts, violate international human rights law, or are responsible for military overflights in Darfur.

Sudan's Government Steps Up Darfur Attacks, Rights Group Says
Bloomberg.com
by Karl Maier
April 27, 2006

Sudan 's government is stepping up a military offensive in the Darfur region in a bid to win territory before an April 30 deadline to conclude peace talks with rebels, a U.S.-based human rights group said.

Attacks this week on rebel-held areas in southern Darfur, using Antonov aircraft and helicopter gun ships, have displaced thousands of civilians, Human Rights Watch said today in an e- mailed statement. It urged the United Nations to accelerate efforts to send UN peacekeepers to the western Sudanese region.

``Khartoum's new attacks on civilians show the Security Council needs to move quickly on a UN protection force for Darfur,'' Peter Takirambudde, Human Rights Watch's Africa director, said in the statement.

Sudan is blocking UN efforts to send a peacekeeping force, saying it won't consider accepting UN troops until it reaches a peace agreement with rebels at talks under way in Abuja, the Nigerian capital. The African Union's chief mediator, Salim Ahmed Salim, yesterday submitted a draft peace deal and urged government and rebel negotiators to sign it by April 30.

The three-year-old Darfur conflict has killed tens of thousands of civilians and forced more than 2 million from their homes, the UN says. The UN calls Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and the U.S. government has accused the Sudanese government of committing genocide in the region.

"This is decision time; no more procrastination,'' Salim told government and rebel negotiators yesterday, according to an e-mailed statement. "Every journey has a destination, for the Abuja peace talks, the end is at hand.''

Aid Effort

Increased fighting in Darfur since mid-September has forced international aid agencies to scale back relief efforts. The agencies say about 3.5 million people need food aid in Darfur, which is the size of France.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has proposed replacing the 7,000-strong African force in Darfur with a more robust UN contingent of 20,000 soldiers.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, in an audiotape broadcast on April 23 by the satellite television station al-Jazeera and authenticated by the U.S., said Muslim fighters should be prepared to fight ``crusaders'' in Darfur.

The UN Security Council on April 25 imposed sanctions against a government air force general, a pro-government militia leader and two rebel commanders, saying they were guilty of war crimes in Darfur. The sanctions include a freeze on foreign assets and a travel ban.

The latest attacks by government forces, Human Rights Watch said, occurred on April 24 on a village in South Darfur state called Joghana, which is controlled by the main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army. It's about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the town of Gereida, where about 80,000 refugees live.

The Sudanese government on April 3 stopped the UN's top emergency aid coordinator, Jan Egeland, from visiting Gereida, saying it couldn't guarantee his safety. Egeland said the government didn't want him to see the escalating attacks.

"If the Sudanese government continues this offensive then Gereida is likely to be the next target,'' Takirambudde said.

Darfur refugees forced to join the fight
Christian Science Monitor
by Katharine Houreld
April 28, 2006

BREDJING , CHAD - Last month, Adam Sabun had to decide whether to save his own life or that of his younger brother Abdel.

The two, whose names have been changed to protect their identity, were among thousands of Sudanese who have been abducted recently from refugee camps in eastern Chad - near the border of the now-infamous Darfur region of western Sudan - and forced to fight by various Chadian and Sudanese rebel groups operating in the area. This new and worrisome development further complicates one of the world's most complex humanitarian crises.

"I'd had no food for four days," says Mr. Sabun. "I wanted to escape while I could still walk." Other kidnapped refugees had told him that his brother had also been taken. As Sabun searched for his brother, he got weaker and weaker. Finally he slipped the guards and walked seven hours through the desert back to his camp, hoping his brother would do the same. Today, Abdel is among hundreds of refugees still missing.

Although the exact number is unknown, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that around 4,700 refugees in Chadian camps were abducted last month. Most were taken in the span of three days in mid-March from the camps of Treguine and Bredjing, when unidentified rebels went from tent to tent looking for potential fighters, according to refugees and the UNHCR. Women who tried to cling to their men were beaten back mercilessly, say witnesses. Some men who resisted were tied up at knifepoint and carried off in vehicles. Many of those taken say they saw people tied up and left in the sun for days, or witnessed beatings. Some were killed.

Among the dusty tents and straw shacks of the refugee camps, the clumps of frightened people do not even know who attacked them, although most of the refugees who escaped agree their kidnappers spoke with Sudanese accents. At least four rebel groups - some Sudanese, some Chadian - are now active along the chaotic border between the two countries.

Chadian rebel groups aiming to oust President Idriss Deby before next week's elections have grown rapidly and mobilized in recent months. Two weeks ago, hundreds of Chadian rebels made it to Chad's capital, N'Djamena in an unsuccessful coup.

Meanwhile, Sudanese rebel factions in Darfur continue to battle the government-backed Arabic-speaking janjaweed militias, as they have for more than three years. Both the Chadian and Sudanese rebels have abducted refugees to fight. But now humanitarian agencies are concerned that forced recruitment of refugees by the Sudanese rebels could be used as a pretext for the janjaweed to attack the camps in Chad.

Since the Darfur conflict began in 2003, about 2 million people have been displaced, and around 200,000 people have died, leading the US to accuse Sudan of genocide and the UN to consider a peacekeeping mission. In a tape released last weekend, Osama bin Laden called for a holy war against any Western troops that may enter Darfur.

African Union mediators presented a new draft peace agreement to Darfur's warring parties Tuesday at talks in Abuja, Nigeria, and urged them to sign it by the agreed-upon deadline Sunday.

But observers say a deal is unlikely to happen while Chad remains unstable. "A rebel victory in Chad would significantly strengthen the hand of the government of Sudan both militarily and at the negotiating table," said Colin Thomas-Jensen, an analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. " Chad could easily and quickly become a base used by [janjaweed] to launch attacks on [Sudanese rebels] based in Darfur."

Although the Darfur conflict has been marked by gross human rights violations and ethnic cleansing, Olivier Bercault of Human Rights Watch says the forced recruitment of fighters, including children, is a new development.

Mr. Bercault says the majority of rebels captured by the Chadian government that HRW spoke to say they were kidnapped. Although children currently only account for a small number of fighters in Chad and Sudan, rebel groups had previously been strict about recruiting only adult fighters.But a push by the various rebel groups to gain territory - and therefore bargaining power - ahead of the end of the Abuja peace process, together with upcoming elections in Chad, have sparked a drive to add manpower to the rebel forces, he says.

"The war is shifting gear and [the various rebel groups] need more people to fight," said Bercault. "I'm very concerned about child recruitment. When you start with this, it's like an addiction. It's difficult to stop."

Forced recruitment of children has been a tactic used in other African conflicts. In northern Uganda, which borders Sudan, the Lord's Resistance Army often abducts children to fight, sometimes demanding they kill their own parents or be killed themselves.

In West Africa, forced recruitment and the use of child soldiers was common during regional wars that raged throughout the late 1990s until 2003. The Liberian warlord Charles Taylor even created a special "Small Boys Unit" for his child fighters.

But the clear-eyed young boys now being held in a government prison in Chad's capital are along way from the drugged-up youngsters that Mr. Taylor recruited. Some insist they joined the rebellion because members of the president's tribe stole livestock from their families. Others, like Zakariah Bashir Ibrahim, say they were tricked into coming to the front.

The 14-year-old Sudanese boy is one of at least three child rebel fighters currently being held in one of many fetid prison cells in Chad's capital, surrounded by men twice their age. He says he was forced to fight with hundreds of Chadian rebels who two weeks ago fought their way from eastern Chad more than 500 miles to the capital, where many were killed or repelled by forces loyal to Chad's government. Around 235 fighters, including Zakariah, were captured.

Squatting shyly at the feet of a Chadian soldier, he says he was abducted from Sudantwo months agoby a Chadian national and forced to undergo training. Unlike other child soldiers, he was not issued a weapon but instructed to ride on the back of a pickup truck with a machine gun mounted on the roof. "They invited me to dinner and then took me away," he says quietly. "They didn't tell me the truth.... My family doesn't know where I am."

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Uganda (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in Uganda

Uganda: Mediator Critical of ICC Indictments
AllAfrica.com - Institute for War and Peace Reporting
by Apolo Kakaire
April 15, 2006

Peace negotiator says arrest warrants for LRA chiefs severely undermine local efforts to end the war.

Six months after the International Criminal Court, ICC, issued indictments for the arrest and prosecution of the leaders of the Lords Resistance Army, LRA, the local chief peace mediator in northern Uganda, Betty Bigombe, maintains that the involvement of the ICC was ill-timed.

Bigombe said the ICC should have taken more time to study the situation and understand it fully.

"I think they should have waited," Bigombe told IWPR in Gulu, the main town at the centre of the insurgency by the LRA. "It would not have cost them much to wait for two years to give this process [a local peace initiative, based on traditional reconciliation methods and headed by Bigombe] a chance."

"In principle, the ICC is good but the time the ICC came here is wrong.

They came during an ongoing war."

Bigombe said it is unlikely that the issuing of ICC arrest warrants for the LRA rebel leaders will bring the war to an end. "The question is: if you arrest Kony [Joseph Kony, the LRA leader], will that end the war?" she said. "We are talking about ending the war and you cannot end the war if the LRA leadership is not involved in the process."

Bigombe first became involved in the peace process in northern Uganda in 1988 when she was appointed State Minister for the Pacification of Northern Uganda.

During the 20-year war an estimated 20,000 children have been abducted and forcibly recruited into the LRA as guerrillas, sex slaves and porters. Other people have been maimed, killed or displaced from their homes into squalid camps strewn all over the Acholi ethnic region.

The ICC began investigating war crimes in northern Uganda in 2005 at the invitation President Yoweri Museveni who referred the matter to it to the court in The Hague.

The ICC, set up in 2002 as the world's first permanent global war crimes court, is also probing human rights abuses in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Darfur region of western Sudan.

According to an arrest warrant issued in September last year by the ICC, Kony is accused of murder, torture and mutilation, abduction, sexual violence, forced recruitment of children and the killing of people the LRA took to be supporters of President Museveni.

Bigombe said the ICC's intrusion severely undermined local efforts to end the war. "It is now extremely difficult for me to talk meaningfully to the LRA leadership when they know they are being hunted down to be locked up behind bars in Europe," she said.

However, despite what she described as the "ICC setback", Bigombe has not given up and continues to pursue her peace efforts, insisting that it does not mean the war is going to end simply because ICC has issued arrest warrants.

Bigombe said the ICC intervention would have been more effective if the court's Argentinian chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, had introduced an additional force to try either to arrest the rebels or to end the war. The ICC has no police force of its own and relies on member states which have have ratified the founding statute to carry out arrests.

Without such an additional force, it was unlikely that much would result from the ICC indictments. "Have they put in their own army? No. They have given the task to UPDF [Ugandan People's Defence Force]. The UPDF has been trying to capture and kill Kony for 19 years, so the ICC coming to give them another bit of paper does not make any difference," said Bigombe.

She added that she was still managing to talk to the rebels in various ways, including by satellite phone. She said the LRA had been greatly weakened as a consequence of casualties and defections. She said she still hopes to find a way round the obstacles she said have been created by the ICC initiative.

Uganda: 'No Amnesty for Rebel Leaders'
AllAfrica.com - The Monitor (Kampala)
by Emmanuel Mulondo & Gerald Walulya
April 19, 2006

Parliament yesterday passed the Amnesty Amendment Bill 2003, giving authority to the House to approve names of insurgents and individuals to be excluded from government pardon.

The Bill gives the Minister of Internal Affairs authority to name those individuals by statutory instrument but bring the list to Parliament for approval. Those to be excluded included top field commanders of insurgent groups or terrorist organisations and financiers of such groups.

The passing of the Bill followed a compromise after intense consultations by Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda with MPs who were vehemently opposed to exclusion of any individuals from the amnesty.

Allaying the fears of those who had opposed the Bill that it would jeopardise peace efforts, Rugunda told the House before the final debate that the government remained committed to a peaceful solution to see an end to the LRA insurgency, that has claimed and displaced thousands of people in the north.

On Thursday, many members opposed the Bill, saying the very people it sought to exclude from pardon were the very ones who needed it because the rest were abductees who had joined the rebellion against their will.

They also argued that the Bill was a declaration of outright war by the government, which would have grave repercussions for the people in war areas.

But Rugunda said there were those people clearly identifiable, who had for 20 years refused to respond positively to government's olive branch and had on the contrary resorted to killing or threatening those who wanted to come out of rebellion.

The chairman of the House Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs, Mr Amon Reeves Muzoora, said it would be the duty of the intelligence services to name the individuals to be excluded and the minister would bring an instrument to Parliament to approve the list.

The minister said last week the Bill would bring Uganda into tandem with the International Criminal Court which last year indicted the five top leaders of the LRA accused of committing atrocities against innocent people.

Ugandan to testify to civil war horrors
The Washington Times
by Julia Duin
April 26, 2006

A 26-year-old Ugandan woman kidnapped as a teenager and forced into sexual slavery by a terrorist religious sect will be the star witness today at a congressional hearing on Uganda's 18-year civil war.

Grace Akallo, now a communications major at a Christian college near Boston, has become the poster child for Congress' efforts to pressure Uganda to end what's been called one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Miss Akallo, one of about 30,000 children kidnapped by a band of rebels known as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), will represent the Christian relief organization World Vision at a 2 p.m. International Relations subcommittee hearing presided over by Rep. Christopher H. Smith, New Jersey Republican.

More than 80 percent of the LRA's ranks are made up of kidnapped children, meaning its troops are simultaneously hostages and terrorists.

"It's kidnapping, mutilation and rape against children," Richard Stearns, president of World Vision, told The Washington Times during a recent visit to Washington. "We all have blood on our hands in letting this go on."

Some members of Congress want to nix a proposed $4 million cut in the U.S. Agency for International Development's foreign disaster assistance budget that was earmarked for Uganda. Fifty-eight children under the age of 5 are dying each day in Uganda's massive refugee camps, said Gregory Simpkins, African-affairs adviser for Mr. Smith.

"The situation in Darfur [in the Sudan] has overshadowed a lot of other situations, such as northern Uganda, and has robbed resources in terms of dealing with this tragedy," he said.

Members of Congress want the White House to pressure Uganda to resolve the conflict, especially after LRA founder Joseph Kony was indicted last fall for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Miss Akallo was 15 when the LRA invaded her convent school in Aboke. A nun talked the soldiers into releasing the majority of the girls, but 30 were retained, including Miss Akallo.

For the next seven months, the girl endured continued rapes, beatings and forced marches and was ordered to kill her fellow tribespeople -- or be killed herself.

"It's part of the training," she said. "They force you to kill your own family, and then they [kidnap] you.”

"I did it for survival. If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't be telling this story. I believe that by telling my story now, children who are being forced to kill won't have to kill any more."

She eventually escaped. After attending Uganda Christian University in Mukono for three years, she received a scholarship from Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., for her last two years of school. She hopes to earn a graduate degree in conflict resolution.

"It's very hard to recover," she said of the few children who get rescued from the LRA. "And some of them have nowhere to go because they were forced to kill their own family, even their parents."

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International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Official Website of the ICTY

Press Briefing of the ICTY
Christian Chartier, Senior Information Officer
April 26, 2006

Trial in the Prlic et al. Case to Begin on 26 April 2006
Press Release of the ICTY
April 24, 2006

The trial for the six high-level leaders of the Bosnian Croat wartime entity, Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petkovic, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic will begin on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 at 2:15 in Courtroom III. The charges against the accused focus on ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims and other non-Croats from areas in the territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina which were claimed to be part of the so-called Herceg-Bosna, declared as a political and territorial entity in November 1991. The charges include, among others, murder, rape, sexual assault, destruction of property, imprisonment, deportation and forcible transfer. The indictment concentrates on crimes committed in the municipalities of Prozor, Gornji Vakuf, Jablanica, Mostar, Ljubuski, Stolac, Čapljina and Vares.

[…] The indictment states that the six accused participated in a joint criminal enterprise to politically and militarily subjugate, permanently remove and ethnically cleanse Bosnian Muslims and other non-Croats who lived in areas on the territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina which were claimed to be part of the Croatian Community (and later Republic) of Herceg-Bosna, and to join these areas as part of a "Greater Croatia". According to the indictment, as president, and later prime minister, of the Herceg-Bosna/HVO, Jadranko Prlic was the most powerful official, other than Mate Boban, in the Herceg-Bosna/HVO political and governmental structure. Bruno Stojic was the top political and management official in charge of the HVO armed forces. Slobodan Praljak served simultaneously as a senior Croatian Army officer, Assistant Minister of Defense and senior representative of the Croatian Ministry of Defense to the Herceg-Bosna/HVO government and armed forces, playing an important role in securing weapons and ammunition for the HVO army. Milivoj Petkovic, in his various positions and functions, exercised de jure and/or de facto command and control over the Herceg-Bosna/HVO armed forces. Valentin Coric played a key role in the establishment, administration and operation of the HVO Military Police. Berislav Pusic was president of the commission taking charge of all HVO prison and detention facilities holding prisoners of war and detainees.

The indictment alleges that in addition to the six accused, the joint criminal enterprise included Franjo Tudman, Gojko Šusak, Janko Bobetko, Mate Boban, Dario Kordic, Tihomir Blaskic, Mladen Naletilic and various members and officials of the HVO, among others. As part of the ethnic cleansing, the six accused are accused of use of force, intimidation and terror by conducting mass arrests of Bosnian Muslims who were then either murdered, beaten, sexually assaulted, robbed of their property and otherwise abused. In attacks on Muslim towns, villages and areas, there was systematic shelling and snipping of civilians. Personal property including houses and cars were taken over by the HVO. Property owned by Muslim civilians was destroyed ensuring there would be no return of the population. Prisons and detention units were set up in order to detain Bosnian Muslims, including the elderly, women and children. They were often kept in horrible conditions and deprived of basic human necessities, such as adequate food, water and medical care. Many of these detainees were then "released" only to be transferred or deported, forced to sign over property to the HVO. Many detainees were also subjected to forced labor, digging trenches, assisting in the building of military fortifications or retrieving dead bodies in dangerous combat situations. A pre-trial conference will be held on Tuesday, April 25, 2006. The six accused have been on provisional release since September 9, 2004.

Full text of the indictment can be found at http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/prl-ii040304e.htm

Court reserves decision on Croatian extradition attempt
ABC News Online (Australia)
April 13, 2006

The High Court has reserved its decision on the case of a man accused of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

Dragan Vasiljkovic is fighting against his extradition to Croatia.

The 51-year-old Perth man was not at today's hearing in Canberra, as he remains in custody after his arrest in Sydney in January.

It is alleged he committed war crimes against prisoners of war and civilians in the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and 1993.

Vasiljkovic is fighting the move on the basis there is no extradition treaty between Australia and Croatia.

He also argues his arrest and imprisonment are illegal.

The Court reserved its decision today and adjourned until May 4.

Serbia detains another suspected Mladic ally-media
Reuters
April 24, 2006

Serb police have detained a former naval officer suspected of helping top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic stay at large, Belgrade media said on Monday, the latest of several such arrests.

The reported detention of Ratko Vucetic, a war invalid who lost a foot during Bosnia's 1992-95 conflict, was likely to add to speculation that the net is tightening around one of the world's most wanted men.

Belgrade has said it is doing all it can to meet Western demands and deliver Mladic to the United Nations war crimes court in The Hague, to avoid a suspension of talks on closer ties with the European Union.

Earlier in April, U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte said Serbia promised her the wartime chief of the Bosnian Serb military would be in the Hague before the end of the month.

Vucetic, whose weekend arrest in a Belgrade suburb was reported by two dailies on Monday, was described as a retired navy captain and an old school friend of the genocide suspect.

Vucetic was due to appear before a court in the Serbian capital this week, daily Kurir quoted his lawyer Branko Butolan as saying. Court officials were not immediately available for comment on the report, which was also carried by the Blic daily.

It came less than a week after Serbian media reported the arrests of retired army colonel Stanko Ristic and his son Predrag on suspicion they were also helping Mladic, who is still a hero for many Serb nationalists.

Ristic was questioned earlier this year in connection with a case against two other people believed to be part of a network enabling Mladic to evade justice more than a decade after the Bosnian conflict.

Mladic is indicted for genocide for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo which killed more than 10,000 civilians.

Del Ponte says he is in Serbia, protected by hardliners. Belgrade denies knowing Mladic's whereabouts, but says it will soon meet Western demands for his handover.

US Pressures Croatia Over Extraditions Demand that Zagreb signs agreement on the International Criminal Court bitterly divides Croatia
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
by Drago Hedl in Osijek, Balkan Insight
April 26, 2006

Pressure from the United States on Croatia to sign a bilateral agreement on the non-extradition of US citizens to the International Criminal Court, ICC, has left both the government and public opinion divided.

The public finds it difficult to accept that while Croatian citizens indicted for war crimes have to be extradited to The Hague, US citzens are to be exempted from facing any such international tribunals.

While the prime minister, Ivo Sanader, has made it clear he is willing to sign the agreement to further Croatia's NATO ambitions, President Stjepan Mesic remains strongly opposed.

Tension has grown ahead of May 5, when the US vice-president, Dick Cheney, is scheduled to visit Croatia.

"As long as we keep extraditing our citizens to The Hague tribunal, it will be very difficult to persuade the public to accept that foreign citizens should not be extradited," said Mesic.

So far, the US administration has signed bilateral agreements on the ICC with some 40 countries, including many of Croatia's neighbours. They include Bosnia and Hercegovina, Albania and Romania.

Since the court was established in July 2002, Washington has emerged as its most powerful opponent, claiming US citizens could face prosecution for political reasons.

Since then, Washington has actively pursued bilateral agreements with signatory states, insuring immunity of US nationals from prosecution by the court. As leverage, it has threatened withdrawal of economic aid and military assistance and other painful measures.

US insistence leaves Sanader in a difficult position, for while NATO membership is a key foreign policy objective, he has to bear in mind the approach of parliamentary elections at the end of next year.

A US promise to press for Croatian membership at the NATO summit in 2008 could be a great asset for his campaign, as the country is unlikely to succeed in its other goal of joining the European Union before 2009.

However, at the moment public opinion stands in his way, as does President Mesic.

What has angered the public especially is that the US recently insisted on the arrest of the popular wartime general Ante Gotovina, and his extradition to The Hague, making it clear that Croatia could forget about NATO as long as Gotovina was at large.

The EU is another problem. Several years back, the European parliament pronounced ratification of the agreement with the US "incompatible" with EU membership. As an EU candidate, this leaves Croatia caught in the middle.

In May 2003, the president of the European Council wrote to Croatian officials, reminding them that "as a country that has close and well developed relations with the EU, you are expected to take into consideration the conclusions and guidelines passed by the EU Council when making a decision on the US request for a bilateral agreement".

To test public opinion, Sanader had two of his close associates, Miomir Zuzul, former foreign minister, and Andrija Hebrang, former deputy prime minister, publicly assert that Croatia cannot avoid acceptance of the US request.

"Sanader could not do it himself, because he wanted to avoid a clash with the EU," one of the prime minister's associates told Balkan Insight. However, the results were not encouraging.

Ivan Grdesic, a former Croatian ambassador to the US, fears Croatia has much to lose if it succumbs to the US demand.

"We would lose credibility in the eyes of European politicans, and our own citizens, who hold the opinion that we cannot at the same time extradite our generals to The

Hague and protect others suspected of the same acts," he said.

"The law should be the same for everybody, and therefore Croatia should not sign," agreed Pavle Kalinic, a political analyst. "Any other option is reminiscent of those racist laws in which one group is privileged over others."

However, Sanader has to balance those considerations against the promise of immediate rewards from Washington.

As Grdesic himself went on to say, "If we sign the agreement, the US will probably back us in our decision to join NATO and will protect our interests abroad."

In the meantime, Sanader is trying to find a way to keep the Americans satisfied without hurting the Europeans.

"Partnership and friendship between Europe and America has no alternative," said Sanader last week. "Any change in our previous position [on the extradition of US citizens to the ICC], will be discussed with the European Union."

Analysts believe if Sanader receives the slightest nod from Brussels, he will go ahead and sign the agreement, whatever the views of the President and the public.

Before next year's elections, he will need to deliver on at least one important pledge in the field of foreign affairs. NATO membership might just be enough.

Drago Hedl is a regular Balkan Insight contributor. Balkan Insight is BIRN's online publication.

EU to freeze Serbia talks unless Mladic caught
The Washington Post - Reuters
by Marcin Grajewski
April 28, 2006

The European Union told Serbia and Montenegro on Friday to catch fugitive war crime suspect Ratko Mladic before Monday or face a halt in talks on closer ties with the bloc.

The EU has given Belgrade until the end of April to transfer the former Bosnian Serb military chief to a U.N. war crime tribunal in the Hague. He is charged with genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo.

"The situation seems to be very clear: unless Ratko Mladic is in the Hague by the end of the month, then we will have no other option but to disrupt the negotiations," EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told a news conference.

Speaking after talks with Belgrade's foreign minister, Vuk Draskovic, Rehn said he appreciated the Serbian government's efforts so far to tackle a support network of Mladic, adding that EU-Serbia ties were "at a very critical moment."

" Serbia must ... choose a European future over its nationalist past," he said.

Rehn said he would meet U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte next Wednesday to discuss the case.

A sombre-faced Draskovic said hopes of catching and handing over Mladic in the next few days "still exist" and vowed that the Serbian authorities would crack down on security and intelligence personnel protecting him if there was no arrest.

"Otherwise it will be a victory of anti-European forces in Serbia. But I can promise them no reason for celebration as they can win a battle but not the war," Draskovic said.

Failure to capture Mladic would mean the suspension of negotiations on an EU association agreement with Serbia, which would offer the country membership prospects along with trade privileges and closer political ties.

Draskovic said Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica would address the nation and the EU if the fugitive general had not been caught by May 3.

Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia with the help of hardline supporters of the late Yugoslav strongman and former president Slobodan Milosevic.

Mladic is indicted along with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims -- the worst mass killing in Europe since the end of World War Two -- and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo in which more than 11,000 people died.

In Serbia, Justice Minister Zoran Stojkovic said he was still optimistic on prospects for arresting Mladic.

"There is an absolute political will to fulfill that commitment ... It is the issue of the technique to find the person we are looking for in order to fulfill that commitment," Stojkovic was quoted as saying by Tanjug news agency.

(Additional reporting by the Belgrade bureau)

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International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

Official Website of the ICTR

Genocide Survivors Tired of 'Unrealistic Promises'
AllAfrica.com - Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
by Aimable Twahirwa
April 20, 2006

More than a decade after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the need for compensation to victims of this tragedy continues to present difficulties for government and genocide survivors alike.

Upwards of 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus lost their lives in the killing spree, which began after a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart, Cyprien Ntaryamira, was shot down over Rwanda's capital -- Kigali -- on Apr. 6 1994.

Since then, a court -- the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) -- has been set up in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha to bring the alleged masterminds of the genocide to book, while Rwandan courts have struggled to try the huge number of persons accused of carrying out the killings. (Hutu militants and members of the Rwandan army are held largely responsible for conducting the massacres.)

Those who survived the genocide are still awaiting reparations, however, says François Ngarambe, president of Ibuka ("Remember", in Kinyarwanda) -- one of the main non-governmental organisations for genocide survivors. This is despite numerous promises of help from government regarding school fees for orphans, medical assistance and accommodation for poor survivors.

"We are sick of continuing to hear unrealistic promises made by politicians who have little sense of our suffering," said Marie Claire Murorunkwere, a Tutsi genocide widow from Ngoma, a district in the east of the country.

Adds Jean Glaubert Burasa -- director of publication for 'Rushyashya', a bi-weekly newspaper published in Kigali -- "This refusal to compensate the survivors is another way of humiliating victims, and supporting those responsible for the genocide."

Rwanda's authorities admit that the need for reparations has confronted them with a dilemma.

"The Rwandan government is not in a position today to promise what it will never have the means to deliver," Edda Mukabagwiza, minister of justice and institutional relations, told IPS.

Simply listing the victims, and damages sustained in terms of physical and psychological injuries, as well as goods destroyed -- is a huge task that the Rwandan government cannot take on alone, notes Mukabagwiza.

Faced with government's limitations in the matter of compensation, certain associations for genocide victims have started income-generating activities. These include the Association of Genocide Widows of April 1994 (l'Association des veuves du génocide d'avril 1994, AVEGA) which last year began making small baskets for decoration -- and export to the American market.

Named 'Basket of Peace, the project has received support from Canada. At present some 200 women are participating in the initiative, including genocide widows and women whose husbands are in prison on genocide charges -- AVEGA president Bellancille Umukobwa told IPS.

Joséphine Nyirantwali is one of those who has benefited from 'Basket of Peace'. Previously, she depended entirely on aid of 60 dollars a month provided by the Assistance Fund for Genocide Survivors, set up by government in 1998.

Today, however, Nyirantwali is able to support herself. "It's the sad experience of the past that gave me the courage to stand in solidarity with my other colleagues," she said.

Donatille Mukagakwaya, a Hutu woman whose jailed husband stands accused of helping to carry out the genocide, voices similar sentiments.

"We are not responsible for what happened in Rwanda. Our husbands are in detention, and we cannot predict what will happen tomorrow. We therefore need to join forces to meet the needs of our families."

According to Mandiaye Niang -- special councilor at the ICTR -- the United Nations Security Council has discussed setting up a special fund to compensate genocide victims, on the basis of individual or collective demands.

"The ICTR could eventually be given a new responsibility to co-ordinate compensation to victims who have appeared before it, as witnesses," he explained.

The tribunal has already launched a programme of assistance for witnesses, in Rwanda.

The first phase of this initiative, which began in September 2000, included legal advice, psychological counseling and physical rehabilitation.

A second phase involved financial aid for a resettlement programme.

According to ICTR spokesman Tim Gallimore, the tribunal has contributed 15 percent of financing (about 52,000 dollars) towards the initial cost of construction for 23 houses in the "Village of Peace" in Kamonyi -- a district in central Rwanda.

Sentence Against Bisengimana to Discourage Further Confessions
AllAfrica.com - Hirondelle News Agency (Lausanne)
April 20, 2006

The judgement pronounced Thursday by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in the case of repentant Paul Bisengimana, former mayor of Gikoro (center Rwanda) during the 1994 genocide, might discourage other defendants from pleading guilty. Such endeavors alleviate the tribunal's proceedings.

Bisengimana, now 58 years old, pleaded guilty to murder and extermination following a plea-bargain he struck last year with the prosecutor of the ICTR. By pronouncing a 15-year jail sentence, the court bypassed a clause of their agreement. Both sides had formerly consented to a prison term ranging from 12 to 14 years.

Of the 12 charges held against Bisengimana in March 2002, only two remain: those of murder and extermination constituting crimes against humanity.

While delivering the judgment the presiding Judge , Arlette Ramaroson explained that «the charge of extermination justifies a sentence t exceeding the terms settled upon». The decision to appeal is currently examined.

Bisengimana's French lawyer Catherine Mabille considers this sentence will «discourage the defense counsellors to enter a guilty plea». Her client has refused to talk.

Charles Adeogun Phillips (Nigeria), the assistant prosecutor who had made a point of shaking hands with the incriminated mayor just before the judges entered the tribunal has voiced his worry that «the defendants might shy away from striking a plea-bargain ».

The prosecutor is all the more concerned that his services are currently bargaining with other defendants, among which Joseph Serugendo. This member of the National Committtee of the Interahamwe Militia and technical director of the Thousand Hills Independent Radio (THIR) is well known for airing incitements to ethnic hatred.

Even though these agreements are not legally binding for the judges, this court is the first to make such a display of sovereignty. And yet this was not to be expected from the vice president of the ICTR in charge of Bisengimana's case.

As far as admitting the charges helps reduce the time in jail from several months to mere days, plea-bargains are an efficient tool for this UN tribunal, considering 2008 is the deadline before which the arbitrations of the court of first instance must be rendered.

Erik Mose, Norwegian president of the ICTR, bewails in the last draft of the court's «closing strategy» the scarcity of agreements passed with defendants. «Contrarily to the ICTY for Yugoslavia, very few defendants have pleaded guilty in Rwanda ». The Scandinavian judge stresses that «plea-bargains considerably shorten the proceedings».

Bisengimana has been condemned for « his personal help and incitation » in two raids launched in his municipality in April 1994 against Tutsi civilians. Last January, this father of ten had publicly expressed remorse.

The former mayor is the fifth accused to admit his crimes to the ICTR. He is also the 24th condemned by the Tribunal which has acquitted 3 defendants to this day. Twenty seven prisoners are currently on trial and the court will summon fifteen more.

ICTR and Rwanda Argue Over Plea Bargains
Hirondelle News Agency (Lausanne)
April 21, 2006

Both the Rwandan government and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) encourage guilty pleas at the UN court in Rwanda war crimes tribunal but disagree on the prosecution dropping the charge of genocide in the ensuing plea bargain.

When the judgment of Paul Bisengimana took the same turn last week, Aloys Mutabingwa, Rwanda’s special representative at the ICTR did not mince his words.

“Agreeing to abandon the charge of genocide while plea-bargaining is highly detrimental”, said Mutabingwa in a press release. “It could be construed as a new approach to negate genocide that undoubtedly occurred in Rwanda in 1994”.

When the issue was raised by the BBC, the deputy prosecutor of the ICTR, Christopher Bongani Majola said that the interpretation was not valid. “Accepting a guilty plea to a crime other than genocide does not mean or simply imply that genocide did n ot take place in Rwanda in 1994”, he said.

“There would therefore be no basis for alleging that the acceptance of a guilty plea other than genocide signifies a new approach on the part of the OTP (Office of the Prosecutor) and the ICTR to negate the genocide”, said the lawyer from South Africa.

The office of the prosecutor explained that the charges of genocide are only abandoned when- after examining all legal means available- it becomes clear that “it would be difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the role that the particular accused person played in the perpetration of the genocide”.

He recalled that out of the 27 cases already dealt with by the ICTR “not less than 20 defendants” have been declared guilty of genocide and that “in all those cases, the Trial Chambers of the Tribunal have repeatedly found and pronounced that genocide was committed in Rwanda”.

This debate was triggered by the ruling last Thursday in the trial of Paul Bisengimana, a former mayor who had pleaded guilty but ended up receiving a heavier sentence than had been in the plea bargain.

Of the 12 counts in the original indictment- which included genocide- the prosecutor only retained two (extermination and murder) in a plea agreement signed between the two parties at the end of last year.

They had agreed on a sentence ranging from 12 to 14 years in jail. The former mayor eventually received a sentence of 15 years.

Last year, a delegation from the Rwandan civil society on a visit to the ICTR had demanded that the prosecutor should no longer be bound to prove that genocide took place in the country in 1994.

Several defense attorneys argue that the prosecution has not been able to prove that genocide took place. They argue that the existence of a “plan” to exterminate the Tutsi ethnic group has not been established.

Father Athanase Seromba Challenges His Judges
AllAfrica.com - Hirondelle News Agency (Lausanne)
April 25, 2006

Father Athanase Seromba, the first catholic priest to face trial for genocide at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), challenged his judges on Monday after they had tried to force him to testify, the Hirondelle news agency has learned.

The Cameroonian lawyer representing the former priest of Nyange (prefecture of Kibuye, west of Rwanda) Patrice Monthé, filed his challenge to "the office" of the tribunal - the most senior judges - after the chamber had refused orally an application by the defendant to testify in his own defence only after all the other witnesses for the defence.

"In this lawsuit we are at a crossroads" said Monthe, affirming that, "the right of might should not supersede the right of law". Asked by Hirondelle agency about the terms of his request, the lawyer did not want to go into detail. "We are at a stage where we cannot walk along the same road any more," he said.

The Seromba trial is presided over by the Senegalese judge Andrésia Vaz, assisted Burkinabe Gberdao Gustave Kam and Swedish Karin HÃ¶kborg.

Father Seromba Father is accused of ordering the demolition of his church using a bulldozer in April 1994, making the walls collapse the walls on some 2000 faithful Tutsis who had found refuge there. He pleads not guilty.

The trial began on September 20, 2004, and the priest began his defense on October 31, 2005. He surrendered to the ICTR in 2002 "to make sure the truth came out", he said. Until then he had been a practicing priest in a province of Italy.

The "Office" of the tribunal, composed of the president, the vice-president and the heads of the chambers, except for the presiding judge concerned, will have to rule on the Seromba request. The last request challenging a chambers decision - an exceptional procedure during a trial - was made on 2 March. It challenged the judges in the Butare case for the same reasons. Arsene Ntahobali, one of the defendants, wished to take the stand last, but the judges wanted him to testify before other witnesses, to accelerate their work.

"Only the "office" of the court will decide between us", insisted Monthé when questioned by the presiding judge who asked him what would happen to the trial in the meantime.

Judge Vaz, who was a vice-president of the court, was named in February 2004 to the court of appeal. In May 2004, in another case, she was accused of showing partiality towards the prosecution. During the trial of four political leaders, the defense denounced the fact that judge was providing accommodation to a compatriot, who was a member of the prosecution team. Judge Vaz and her colleagues had to withdraw from the case.

No bail for man accused of Rwandan war crimes
CBC News
April 27, 2006

A Quebec judge has denied bail to the first man in Canada to be charged with war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Justice André Denis of the Quebec Superior Court says the crimes Désiré Munyaneza is accused of committing in his homeland of Rwanda are very serious.

His specific reasons for denying bail are covered by a publication ban.

Munyaneza is charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed over a three-month period.

He was arrested at his home in Toronto in October 2005, but waited until this month to ask the court to release him pending the outcome of his trial.

Jury selection is to get underway in Montreal in about a year.

A number of issues must be sorted out before the trial begins, including a trip by the lawyers and the court to Rwanda to gather evidence from witnesses who can't or won't travel to Canada to testify.

There's also the question of whether the government should continue to cover Munyaneza's legal bills.

Munyaneza is accused of raping and murdering people in the southern Butare province of Rwanda. The charges against him mark the first time the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act has been used since it was enacted five years ago.

Munyaneza is Hutu and the son of a wealthy businessman. He came to Canada in 1996 and claimed refugee status, but was turned down.

He moved to Toronto about four years ago, where he was living with his wife and two children at the time of his arrest.

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Iraqi High Tribunal

Official Website of the Iraqi High Tribunal
Grotian Moment: The Saddam Hussein Trial Blog

Saddam's handwriting scrutinised in court
Reuters
by Mussab al-Khairalla
April 17, 2006

Saddam Hussein and seven co-accused returned to court on Monday and proceedings focussed on attempts to prove the ousted Iraqi president signed documents implicating him in crimes against humanity.

A criminal expert's report was read out in court which said Saddam's signatures were on documents connecting him with the killing of 148 Shi'ite men and teenagers after an attempt on his life in the town of Dujail in 1982.

Saddam has said he ordered the trial which led to the execution of the men, saying that any president who escaped an assassination attempt was entitled to crack down.

But Saddam and his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti have refused to give the Iraqi tribunal in Baghdad a sample of their handwriting.

One of Saddam's lawyers, Khamis al-Obeidi, requested the court appoint other experts, saying those testifying were members of the Interior Ministry.

"They cannot be independent when they have links to the Interior Ministry and the state," he said.

Chief judge Raouf Abdel Rahman adjourned the trial until Wednesday to give the experts more time to authenticate the signatures of Saddam and Barzan.

Saddam, wearing a dark suit and white shirt, sat in a metal pen listening quietly as the report was presented in court, in sharp contrast to previous sessions which were dominated by his tirades. He could face hanging if found guilty.

Barzan criticised chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi and accused him of leaking the results of a criminal expert report on his handwriting to a radio station.

He also repeated the line that fraudulent signatures were easy to come by in Iraq.

"My signature is very simple, anyone can imitate it," said Barzan, a former Iraqi ambassador in Geneva.

Saddam could soon face trial on charges of genocide in the Anfal campaign against the Kurds in the late 1980s in which more than 100,000 people were killed and thousands of villages razed.

Experts authenticate Hussein's signature on more documents
CNN / Associated Press
April 19, 2006

Handwriting experts authenticated Saddam Hussein's signatures on more documents related to a crackdown on Shiites in the 1980s, the chief judge in his trial said Wednesday. Among the documents was apparently an order approving death sentences for 148 Shiites.

Saddam and his seven co-defendants were in the courtroom in the latest session of the trial Wednesday, as chief judge Raouf Abdul Rahman read a report by handwriting experts on two documents said to be signed by Hussein.

The experts confirmed the signatures were the former Iraqi leader's, Abdul Rahman said.

The experts' report did not give details on the documents, but one of them was dated June 16, 1984. That is the same date of a memo approving the death sentences of the Shiites, presented by prosecutors earlier in the six-month-old trial.

After a session of about three hours, the trial was adjourned until April 24 to allow experts to look at more documents.

Hussein and his co-defendants are on trial for the deaths of the 148 Shiites and the imprisonment of hundreds of others in a crackdown launched following an assassination attempt against Saddam in 1982.

In an earlier session, Hussein had refused to confirm or deny his signature on documents. Some of his co-defendants had said their alleged signatures on other documents were forgeries.

In a session of the trial Monday, experts said they had authenticated Hussein's signature on a 1982 memo approving rewards for six intelligence agents involved in the crackdown.

The defense immediately disputed the experts' results. "We contest all the details of the report," chief defense lawyer Khalil Dulaimi said.

We demand the appointment of other experts who are not employees of the Interior Ministry," defense lawyer Khamees Ubaidi said. "We demand international experts with international expertise -- except for ones from Iran for its obvious hostility against Arabs and Islam."

Hussein trial tape talks about destroying farms
CNN / Associated Press
April 24, 2006

Judge adjourns court to May 15.

Prosecutors in the trial of Saddam Hussein on Monday played an audiotape said to be a phone call between the former Iraqi leader and one of his co-defendants discussing the destruction of farmlands during a crackdown against Shiites in the 1980s.

In the tape, a voice purported to be that of Taha Yassin Ramadan said the leveling of farms and palm groves in the town of Dujail, carried out as retaliation for an attack on Hussein there, had been nearly completed and that the owners would be given compensation.

He also talks of moving "suspect elements" out of Dujail and the nearby town of Balad and bringing in "replacements, meaning we will try to change the social reality" in the two towns.

A voice said to be Hussein's asked questions in the tape, but the voice was not clear in the murky tape, which was a few minutes long. Prosecutors told the court that they had obtained the tape earlier but did not say from where.

Co-defendant Barzan Ibrahim disputed the tape, as well as reports by handwriting experts presented in the past three sessions that authenticated defendants' signatures on documents connected to the crackdown. Ibrahim and some other defendants have alleged the documents are forged.

"Where are you getting these documents? Whose hands are behind them?" Ibrahim said.

"Forging documents and imitating signatures is an age-old phenomenon," he said. "There have been big strides in forging documents and CDs. ... I can bring anyone with any knowledge of a computer and do the same thing in front of you."

After a session of about 90 minutes, chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman adjourned the court until May 15.

The eight defendants are on trial for the deaths of 148 Shiites, the imprisonment of hundreds more and for torture and destruction of farmlands in a crackdown launched in the town of Dujail following a 1982 assassination attempt against Hussein.

A report by handwriting experts read in court Monday raised questions over purported signatures by one of the defendants, Mizhar Abdullah Ruwayyid.

It said the handwriting on documents -- said to be letters sent by Ruwayyid to the Interior Ministry in the days after the shooting attack on Hussein informing on Dujail families involved in opposition activity -- did not match samples given by Ruwayyid.

There was no immediate explanation for the failed match. In an earlier session, Ruwayyid insisted the document was a fake.

The five-member team of experts authenticated all the other 11 documents it had been asked to examine, including an order said to be signed by Hussein approving death sentences for the 148 Shiites.

In the past two sessions, reports from a team of three handwriting experts were presented authenticating those documents, but the expanded five-member team was asked to look at them a second time to confirm.

Hussein and the other defendants have insisted their actions in the crackdown were legal because they were responding to the attack on Hussein, whose motorcade came under fire as he passed through Dujail in July 1982.

The prosecution has argued that Hussein's regime s