War Crimes Prosecution Watch

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)

Official Website of the Extraordinary Chambers
Official Website of the Khmer Rouge Trial Task Force
Official Website of the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT)

Justice Initiative Calls on Khmer Rouge Court to Fix Human Resource Problems
Open Society Justice Initiative Press Release
By David Berry
October 5, 2007

~ Additional Steps Needed to Address Flaws Revealed in Audit ~

New York, October 5, 2007—The Open Society Justice Initiative today welcomed the public release of a United Nations audit highlighting serious flaws in hiring and other personnel practices at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). The ECCC must immediately and credibly address these flaws if it expects donors to continue supporting the court, the Justice Initiative said.

The audit, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)—the UN body charged with overseeing international donor funds earmarked for the Cambodian side of the ECCC's budget—found that ECCC human resource management was inadequate by nearly every measure. Most importantly, the audit, released publicly this week, found that a significant portion of the staff hired by the Cambodian side of the ECCC did not meet the minimum job requirements defined by the court. Regrettably, the audit did not address allegations that Cambodian ECCC staff were required to kick back a percentage of their salaries in exchange for their jobs.

"The ECCC must take immediate action to address the problems exposed by the audit and to pro-actively combat the possibility for corrupt practices to occur," said Robert O. Varenik, acting executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative. "Releasing the audit is an important step for the court, but will do little to effect needed reform unless further steps are taken to fix the court's flaws."

Specifically, the Justice Initiative recommended the court take the following steps:

• Institute the best anti-corruption practices used in other international and hybrid tribunals;
• Install an experienced ombudsperson to whom employees and officials can confidentially report inappropriate requests for payment or any other violations of employment practices or ethical conduct;
• Hire only qualified staff who meet minimum job requirements for all key positions in the court.
The ECCC is about to begin a fundraising drive to generate additional support for its operations. The Justice Initiative urges prospective donors to play a key role in making sure the ECCC takes the necessary action to improve its practices by:
• Conditioning future funding on the court's effective efforts to address the problems highlighted in the UNDP audit and to produce demonstrated results;
• Mandating regular and transparent financial reporting by both UNDP and the ECCC;
• Insisting on unified, transparent, and professional hiring practices and reporting structures.

"The ECCC needs to convince donors and the public that it is willing to take the steps necessary to address the challenges it confronts," said Varenik. "It cannot settle for superficial solutions."

Former Khmer Rouge Leader Denies Responsibility for Crimes During his rule
International Herald Tribune/Associated Press
October 7, 2007

BANGKOK, Thailand: The Khmer Rouge's former foreign minister, Ieng Sary, said Sunday he believes he is next to face charges by a U.N.-backed genocide tribunal, but denied responsibility for the deaths of some 1.7 million people during the group's rule of Cambodia in the late 1970s.

After arriving at Bangkok's international airport, he said he heard about the speculation on the radio earlier Sunday as he headed to the airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital.

"I have done nothing wrong," Ieng Sary, believed to be 77, said of his years with the Khmer Rouge regime.

"I am a gentle person. I believe in good deeds. I even made good deeds to save several people's lives (during the regime). But let them (the tribunal) find what the truth is," he said without elaborating.
He was in Thailand to receive a checkup for a heart condition, he said.
Surviving Khmer Rouge leaders have typically claimed innocence in the crimes committed when their communist group held power in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.
The group's radical policies caused the death of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, illness, overwork and execution.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998, and his former military chief, Ta Mok, died in 2006 in government custody.

The tribunal's prosecutors have recommended five former Khmer Rouge leaders for trial. So far, only two of them — Nuon Chea, the former Khmer Rouge ideologist, and Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch who headed the former Khmer Rouge S-21 torture center — have been detained on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The other three suspects have not been publicly named. But Ieng Sary, who lives freely in Cambodia but in declining health, is widely believed to be on the prosecutors' list.

Ieng Sary, dressed in khaki pants, shirt and hat, flew on a Bangkok Airways flight with a Cambodian aide.

When he arrived in the Thai capital, he had to be pushed in a wheel chair, while his aide carried a walker.

Ieng Sary said he was visiting a Bangkok hospital for a regular heart checkup and would return to Cambodia in a few days.

"My heart is not functioning well following previous surgeries. My health is my big concern now," Ieng Sary said.

How UNDP Comes Clean
The Wall Street Journal
September 27, 2007

If the United Nations Development Program in Cambodia wants to clear its name, it sure has a funny way of showing it. On the day this page detailed allegations of widespread hiring malpractice and kickbacks in UNDP-supervised programs and called for the publication of the findings of an audit, the agency released -- wait for it -- a one-page press release.

For those just joining the tale, a quick review: An audit commissioned by UNDP earlier this year found a range of irregularities in the Cambodian side of the Khmer Rouge tribunal. The main findings included inflated salaries and unjustified additional staff positions to the tune of $357,000. The auditors also alleged a serious conflict of interest in the board overseeing the operations, which is responsible for administering more than $6 million of donor-nation funds. We've seen a copy of the auditors' draft report. The UNDP has not made it or the final report public nor has it shown it to the oversight board.

Tuesday's joint statement, issued by UNDP and other overseers, assures the public that the board has "reviewed steps taken to improve the implementation of recruitment procedures of national staff to ensure greater transparency and effectiveness." Nowhere does it note that the board has not seen the audit, nor does it discuss conflicts of interest. And nowhere does it pledge to reveal the audit to the public, which is footing the bill.

Instead, the board "welcomed the adoption of a personnel manual" and promises that all employees will "sign" and "follow" a code of conduct. This document prohibits staff from "receiving or soliciting payments other than salaries for the performance of official duties." Could this be a tacit admission of kickback problems?

Cambodia isn't an easy place to operate and its legal system is notoriously corrupt. On Monday, the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative -- whose allegations last year sparked the UNDP audit -- issued a report raising concerns about the Cambodian government's influence over the Khmer Rouge tribunal. The same day, another part of the U.N. -- the U.N. Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials -- issued a list of work to be done before the courts can function properly.

The Khmer Rouge tribunal took a decade to organize and represents the only hope for justice for more than a million slaughtered Cambodians. Next month, the U.N. is planning to launch a fund-raising drive in New York to raise tens of millions of dollars to support the court's activities. Before writing a check, potential donors have a responsibility to their funders to know what is really going on.

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Central African Republic

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Cases: Central African Republic

Countries must enforce indictments of war crimes court, Liechtenstein tells UN
UN News Service
October 1, 2007

The creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been “the crowning success” of recent progress towards the rule of law and global justice, Liechtenstein’s Foreign Minister told the General Assembly today, but that achievement must be backed up by arrests of all the people indicted by the Court.

Rita Kieber-Beck called on the UN and all Member States to cooperate with the ICC to ensure that the arrests are made and the indictees are brought to The Hague in the Netherlands, where the Court is based, for trial.

So far the ICC has issued arrest warrants for two suspects accused of war crimes in Darfur and five leaders of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda, but none have been arrested.

The Darfur indictees are Ahmed Muhammad Harun, currently the Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb. The LRA indictees are the leader Joseph Kony, and commanders Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen and Raska Lukwiya.

Thomas Lubanga, a rebel militia leader in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was arrested last year, while the Prosecutor’s Office has begun to probe of allegations of killings and rapes in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Ms. Kieber-Beck said the Security Council’s decision to refer the situation in Darfur – where more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2.2 million others forced to flee their homes since 2003 – “was a landmark decision, both legally and politically.

“It was a strong message by the Security Council that the international community does not accept impunity for the most serious crimes under international law.”

But the Foreign Minister stressed that this message needs to be backed by enforcement action on the suspects who remain at large.

Central African Republic welcomes UN mission but urges more aid
UN News Service
October 1, 2007

A senior official from the Central African Republic (CAR) today welcomed the recent establishment of a United Nations-mandated, multidimensional presence in the country but said it must be accompanied by assistance to bolster national capacity there.

Addressing the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate, CAR Minister for Foreign Affairs Côme Zoumara hailed the adoption of Security Council resolution 1778. Unanimously passed on 25 September, that text set up a mission to help protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid to thousands of people uprooted due to insecurity in CAR, Chad and neighbouring Sudan.

At the same time, he stressed that the operation, to be known as MINURCAT, must be accompanied by real support to reinforce the CAR’s own institutional capacities.

The conflict in Darfur, as well as the presence of rebels, armed groups and roadblocks and the proliferation of light arms, has combined to foster a “generalized and permanent” insecurity in the region, he said.

As a result, CAR has faced recurrent crises which chronically tear at the country’s economic fabric, exacerbating conditions of poverty endured by the country’s people, he said.

On the general economic situation, he said CAR was working to develop its economy in a manner consistent with the principles of sustainable development, engaging in regional cooperation toward that end.

The CAR is open to private and public investments from other States, he said, thanking those which have responded positively, including France, the United States, China, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Russian Federation, and a number of countries in the South.

Thanking also international financial institutions such as the African Development Bank, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he appealed to them to “turn a new page on the environment and economies of poor countries.”

Four rebel groups reject political dialogue in CAR
Afrique En Ligne
October 12, 2007

Paris, France (PANA) - Four rebel groups in Central African Republic (CAR) have rejected moves by President Francois Bozize to engage them in a political dialogue.

The rebel groups - the Union of the Republican Forces (UFR) , the People's Army for the Restoration of the Republic (APRD), the Central African Movement for Justice (MLCJ) and the Central African Democratic Front (FDC) - said in a press statement Thursday the call for dialogue was a "new farce".

In the statement, made public in Paris, the groups said conditions for a real political dialogue had not yet been established in the country.

"The agreement signed in a rush and which essentially deals with the number of people who must take part in preparations for the dialogue and the choice of its chairman is just a farce," said the rebel groups.

They said instead a serious and transparent dialogue open to all national protagonists of the deep political, humanitarian and security crisis in the country should be arranged.

"The political dialogue can only take place after an international mediator accepted by all the protagonists is appointed", the groups said.

President Bozize recently inaugurated a 23-member committee, including members of the opposition parties and the civil society, to prepare grounds for the dialogue.

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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

Opposition Wants Gen Kabarebe Transferred to France
Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d'Information (Kigali), via AllAfrica.com
October 1, 2007

As an Interpol member, the Democratic Republic of Congo has the legal obligation to arrest Gen. James Kabarebe and to extradite him to France, where he is under criminal investigation, controversial UDF-Inkingi said on Monday.

The Netherlands based group wants all concerned police officials from France, DRC and Interpol to comply with their national and international legal obligations and to bring to book Gen Kabarebe.
The Rwanda defense Forces chief arrived in the DRC's capital Kinshasa yesterday to attend an extraordinary Tripartite Plus military chiefs meeting, scheduled to take place in Lubumbashi this week.

Gen. Kabarebe is among nine Rwandan officials subject of arrest warrants issued by Anti-terrorist Jean-Louis Bruguière on charges of shooting down of Rwanda presidential jet on the night of April 6, 1994.

The arrest warrants led to the severing of relations between France and Rwanda but moves are ongoing to mend them.

On the list also includes: Lt Gen. Charles Kayonga - Land Force Chief of Staff, Lt Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa - envoy to India, Brig. Jackson Nkurunziza a.k.a Jack Nziza - d of Political Education (J5) and Gen. (rtd) Samuel Kanyamera - now member of parliament.

Others are Col. (rtd) Jacob Tumwine, Franck Nziza, Eric Hakizimana and Rose Kabuye, a.k.a Rose Kanyange, director general of State Protocol.

"The UDF-Inkingi is convinced that there will be no lasting peace and no stability in the Great Lakes Region if all those crimes remain unpunished", the group said in a statement.

"The UDF-Inkingi believes that if justice continues to be delayed or denied, no reconciliation will be possible, an unavoidable pre-requisite to reconstruction and shared economic growth in that part of the African continent".

It says Interpol should act on the Rwandan officials as it did with former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori - who was arrested and later extradited to Peru from Chile on September 24.

Meanwhile, Generals Charles Kayonga and Jack Nziza have petitioned a Belgian court demanding the warrants against them be quashed and disregarded with damages of up to 62.5million Euros each.

Court set September for the start of the proceedings. Media reports from Belgium indicate that Judge Bruguiere was not in court but would testify by video conference link up.

In France, Samuel Kanyemera (Sam kaka), retired Col. Rose Kabuye (Kanyange) and Jacob Tumwine have also gone to court in Paris demanding that the warrants are thrown out.

Trial date uncertain
The Mercury
October 02, 2007

THE HAGUE: Judges at the young International Criminal Court were hoping to hold the tribunal's first-ever trial - that of war crimes charges against Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga, in mid-February next year.

"Our tentative proposal is a date somewhere around mid-February," said presiding Judge Adrian Fulford.

Lubanga's trial would be the inaugural one for the court, which became operational mid-2002. The court is the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.

It is not clear when the judges will decide on a definite trial date. Yesterday, they questioned the prosecution and the defence about matters that might influence the start of trial, such as disclosure of evidence and witness protection measures.

In January this year, the court ruled that there was sufficient evidence against Lubanga, accused of recruiting and using child soldiers, to go ahead with a trial.

Lubanga has denied all charges. He has also tried to play down his role in the armed wing of his political Union of Congolese Patriots, one of six principal movements that emerged during ethnic conflicts that have ravaged the DRC's eastern Ituri region since 1999. - Sapa-AFP

Rape Epidemic Raises Trauma of Congo War
New York Times
By Jeffrey Gettleman
October 7, 2007

BUKAVU, Congo — Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist, cannot bear to listen to the stories his patients tell him anymore.

Every day, 10 new women and girls who have been raped show up at his hospital. Many have been so sadistically attacked from the inside out, butchered by bayonets and assaulted with chunks of wood, that their reproductive and digestive systems are beyond repair.

“We don’t know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear,” said Dr. Mukwege, who works in South Kivu Province, the epicenter of Congo’s rape epidemic. “They are done to destroy women.”

Eastern Congo is going through another one of its convulsions of violence, and this time it seems that women are being systematically attacked on a scale never before seen here. According to the United Nations, 27,000 sexual assaults were reported in 2006 in South Kivu Province alone, and that may be just a fraction of the total number across the country.

“The sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world,” said John Holmes, the United Nations under secretary general for humanitarian affairs. “The sheer numbers, the wholesale brutality, the culture of impunity — it’s appalling.”

The days of chaos in Congo were supposed to be over. Last year, this country of 66 million people held a historic election that cost $500 million and was intended to end Congo’s various wars and rebellions and its tradition of epically bad government.

But the elections have not unified the country or significantly strengthened the Congolese government’s hand to deal with renegade forces, many of them from outside the country. The justice system and the military still barely function, and United Nations officials say Congolese government troops are among the worst offenders when it comes to rape. Large swaths of the country, especially in the east, remain authority-free zones where civilians are at the mercy of heavily armed groups who have made warfare a livelihood and survive by raiding villages and abducting women for ransom.

According to victims, one of the newest groups to emerge is called the Rastas, a mysterious gang of dreadlocked fugitives who live deep in the forest, wear shiny tracksuits and Los Angeles Lakers jerseys and are notorious for burning babies, kidnapping women and literally chopping up anybody who gets in their way.

United Nations officials said the so-called Rastas were once part of the Hutu militias who fled Rwanda after committing genocide there in 1994, but now it seems they have split off on their own and specialize in freelance cruelty.

Honorata Barinjibanwa, an 18-year-old woman with high cheekbones and downcast eyes, said she was kidnapped from a village that the Rastas raided in April and kept as a sex slave until August. Most of that time she was tied to a tree, and she still has rope marks ringing her delicate neck. The men would untie her for a few hours each day to gang-rape her, she said.

“I’m weak, I’m angry, and I don’t know how to restart my life,” she said from Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where she was taken after her captors freed her.

She is also pregnant.

While rape has always been a weapon of war, researchers say they fear that Congo’s problem has metastasized into a wider social phenomenon.

“It’s gone beyond the conflict,” said Alexandra Bilak, who has studied various armed groups around Bukavu, on the shores of Lake Kivu. She said that the number of women abused and even killed by their husbands seemed to be going up and that brutality toward women had become “almost normal.”

Malteser International, a European aid organization that runs health clinics in eastern Congo, estimates that it will treat 8,000 sexual violence cases this year, compared with 6,338 last year. The organization said that in one town, Shabunda, 70 percent of the women reported being sexually brutalized.

At Panzi Hospital, where Dr. Mukwege performs as many as six rape-related surgeries a day, bed after bed is filled with women lying on their backs, staring at the ceiling, with colostomy bags hanging next to them because of all the internal damage.

“I still have pain and feel chills,” said Kasindi Wabulasa, a patient who was raped in February by five men. The men held an AK-47 rifle to her husband’s chest and made him watch, telling him that if he closed his eyes, they would shoot him. When they were finished, Ms. Wabulasa said, they shot him anyway.

In almost all the reported cases, the culprits are described as young men with guns, and in the deceptively beautiful hills here, there is no shortage of them: poorly paid and often mutinous government soldiers; homegrown militias called the Mai-Mai who slick themselves with oil before marching into battle; members of paramilitary groups originally from Uganda and Rwanda who have destabilized this area over the past 10 years in a quest for gold and all the other riches that can be extracted from Congo’s exploited soil.

The attacks go on despite the presence of the largest United Nations peacekeeping force in the world, with more than 17,000 troops.
Few seem to be spared. Dr. Mukwege said his oldest patient was 75, his youngest 3.

“Some of these girls whose insides have been destroyed are so young that they don’t understand what happened to them,” Dr. Mukwege said. “They ask me if they will ever be able to have children, and it’s hard to look into their eyes.”

No one — doctors, aid workers, Congolese and Western researchers — can explain exactly why this is happening.

“That is the question,” said André Bourque, a Canadian consultant who works with aid groups in eastern Congo. “Sexual violence in Congo reaches a level never reached anywhere else. It is even worse than in Rwanda during the genocide.”

Impunity may be a contributing factor, Mr. Bourque added, saying that very few of the culprits are punished.

Many Congolese aid workers denied that the problem was cultural and insisted that the widespread rapes were not the product of something ingrained in the way men treated women in Congolese society. “If that were the case, this would have showed up long ago,” said Wilhelmine Ntakebuka, who coordinates a sexual violence program in Bukavu.

Instead, she said, the epidemic of rapes seems to have started in the mid-1990s. That coincides with the waves of Hutu militiamen who escaped into Congo’s forests after exterminating 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus during Rwanda’s genocide 13 years ago.

Mr. Holmes said that while government troops might have raped thousands of women, the most vicious attacks had been carried out by Hutu militias.

“These are people who were involved with the genocide and have been psychologically destroyed by it,” he said.

Mr. Bourque called this phenomenon “reversed values” and said it could develop in heavily traumatized areas that had been steeped in conflict for many years, like eastern Congo.

This place, one of the greenest, hilliest and most scenic slices of central Africa, continues to reverberate from the aftershocks of the genocide next door. Take the recent fighting near Bukavu between the Congolese Army and Laurent Nkunda, a dissident general who commands a formidable rebel force. Mr. Nkunda is a Congolese Tutsi who has accused the Congolese Army of supporting Hutu militias, which the army denies. Mr. Nkunda says his rebel force is simply protecting Tutsi civilians from being victimized again.
But his men may be no better.

Willermine Mulihano said she was raped twice — first by Hutu militiamen two years ago and then by Nkunda soldiers in July. Two soldiers held her legs apart, while three others took turns violating her.

“When I think about what happened,” she said, “I feel anxious and brokenhearted.”

She is also lonely. Her husband divorced her after the first rape, saying she was diseased.

In some cases, the attacks are on civilians already caught in the cross-fire between warring groups. In one village near Bukavu where 27 women were raped and 18 civilians killed in May, the attackers left behind a note in broken Swahili telling the villagers that the violence would go on as long as government troops were in the area.

The United Nations peacekeepers here seem to be stepping up efforts to protect women.

Recently, they initiated what they call “night flashes,” in which three truckloads of peacekeepers drive into the bush and keep their headlights on all night as a signal to both civilians and armed groups that the peacekeepers are there. Sometimes, when morning comes, 3,000 villagers are curled up on the ground around them.

But the problem seems bigger than the resources currently devoted to it.

Panzi Hospital has 350 beds, and though a new ward is being built specifically for rape victims, the hospital sends women back to their villages before they have fully recovered because it needs space for the never-ending stream of new arrivals.

Dr. Mukwege, 52, said he remembered the days when Bukavu was known for its stunning lake views and nearby national parks, like Kahuzi-Biega.

“There used to be a lot of gorillas in there,” he said. “But now they’ve been replaced by much more savage beasts.”

Comment: Lubanga Just a “Small Fish”
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
By Eugène Bakama Bope
October 11, 2007

Regardless of whether Lubanga is tried in DRC, many here feel it’s time the ICC indicted bigger Congolese war crime suspects.

The International Criminal Court, ICC, is considering the possibility of holding some of the Thomas Lubanga trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC. This praiseworthy initiative has some advantages but also difficulties.

Among the advantages is the necessity to bring international justice closer to the population concerned by international crimes. It is in the country where crimes have been committed that the victims, suspects and evidence are located. It is therefore legitimate and easier that justice be rendered where the crimes have been committed. Also, holding trials in the Congo educates the whole society and allows the work of the ICC to be made credible.

Lubanga was the president of the Union of Congolese Patriots, UPC - a militia whose objective was to protect the interest of the Hema ethnic group in the Ituri region. This group was involved in ethnic massacres, acts of torture and rapes.

He was transferred to the ICC on March 17 and charged with war crimes, including the recruitment of child soldiers. Judges confirmed the charges in January, and we are now expecting the trial.

The ICC will have to make all necessary efforts to explain to the inhabitants of the DRC the important legal procedures which are currently taking place in The Hague.

So why not do that by holding part of the trial in the Congo itself?

For one thing, the security situation in the northeast could lead the ICC to give up this idea to organise part of the Lubanga trial here.

It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, for the Congolese government to ensure the security of all parties during a trial in Ituri, even with the intervention of MONUC, the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. How can the victims and witnesses be protected?

That’s why some observers propose that the trial be held in the capital city Kinshasa.

The arrest and transfer of Lubanga to the ICC triggered great hopes for victims in particular and the Congolese population in general.

However, Lubanga is for us a “small fish” compared to others who continue to enjoy impunity in the Congo.

The “big fish” are not bothered by international or national justice. This is the reason why the population is sceptical about the ICC.

Indeed, the Congolese people hope that the big fish will be held accountable for their deeds before the ICC, but the reality in the field causes doubts.

Crimes were committed in Ituri with the blessing of some of the militia leaders of the region. All these persons are not involved in any legal procedure so far and some of them are even members of the new national army.

Human Rights Watch said in its 2002 Ituri report that acts of cannibalism, rape and massacres were committed by armed groups notably Ngili and Lendu militias, Hema forces of the UPC, and the RCD-N (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie- National) and the RCD-ML (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie - Mouvement de Liberation ).

The ICC still hasn’t issued any arrest warrants against Lendu militia leaders, despite their alleged involvement in a number of serious crimes. And the public is still waiting, after three years, for the names of other people who could be targeted by international arrest warrants.

“There is no justice anymore in our country”, is a cry that constantly comes from the people. What stability, what future can be expected in a nation where citizens do not trust justice anymore?

It is clear that to build a democratic and peaceful society, the DRC will have to overcome huge challenges. One of the most important will be to fight against the tradition of impunity.

The question for the ICC is whether it will be able to help with those challenges ahead by hitting higher and harder.

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Darfur, Sudan (ICC)

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

Sudan releases Darfur war crime suspect wanted by ICC
Sudan Tribune
By Wasil Ali
October 2, 2007

The Sudanese government disclosed for the first time that a Darfur war crimes suspect wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) was released from detention.

Sudan’s foreign minister Lam Akol revealed in press statements yesterday that Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb was freed due to lack of evidence against him.

The Sudanese government was believed to have been holding Kushayb in custody since November for what they described as “suspicion of violating Sudanese laws” and that he was under investigation for criminal acts in Darfur.

The judges of the ICC issued their first arrest warrants for suspects accused of war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region in early May.

The warrants were issued for Ahmed Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs, and militia commander Ali Kushayb. Sudan has so far rejected handing over the two suspects.

The warrant for Haroun lists 42 counts including murder, torture and persecution, while the warrant for Kushayb lists 50 counts including murder and intentionally attacking civilians.

Akol reiterated that Sudan is not party to the ICC and as such has no obligation to cooperate with it.

The news of Kushayb’s release is likely to anger ICC officials and human rights groups who allege that he led attacks against civilians. Kushayb has been nicknamed as the “Butcher of Darfur” by Darfur refugees.

"We have eyewitnesses who saw Kushayb on his horse giving instructions in each of the cases. I have eyewitnesses who saw Kushayb involved in the execution of prisoners, the rape of women," the ICC Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said in statements earlier this year.

Last month Sudan appointed the second war crime suspect Ahmed Haroun as head of a committee investigating human rights complaints in Darfur, a move criticized by human right groups.

Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statue, but the UN Security Council triggered the provisions under the Statue that enables it to refer situations in non-State parties to the world court if it deems that it is a threat to international peace and security.

Jimmy Carter faces down security in Darfur
The Associated Press via the International Herald Tribune
October 3, 2007

EL FASHER, Sudan: Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter vowed Wednesday he would hold world powers to their pledge of ending the "crime against humanity" taking place in Darfur by deploying a strong peacekeeping force and ensuring democratic elections.

Nobel Peace laureates Carter and Desmond Tutu of South Africa headed a delegation known as "the Elders" made up of respected international figures seeking to promote peace. The group made Darfur in western Sudan its first mission.

"I'm just a retired politician, but I'll certainly do my best to remind the international community it must fulfill its commitments," toward ending Darfur's crisis, Carter said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday as he was ending his tour of the war-torn Sudanese region.

While describing the conflict, which has claimed 200,000 lives and resulted in more than 2.5 million refugees as a crime, Carter said he disagreed with U.S. George W. Bush and others who call it a genocide.

"Rwanda was definitely a genocide; what Hitler did to the Jews was; but I don't think it's the case in Darfur," said the former president. "I think Darfur is a crime against humanity, but done on a micro scale. A dozen janjaweed attacking here and there," he said, noting that fact that so many refugees have survived the violence.

"I don't think the commitment was to exterminate a whole group of people, but to chase them from their water holes and lands, killing them in the process at random," he said. "I think you can call it ethnic cleansing."

Carter deplored that it had taken such a long time for the international community to mobilize over Darfur, since the conflict erupted in 2003 when ethnic Africans rebelled against the government, charging it with neglect.

"Because of Iraq, this crisis had been simmering at a lower level," Carter said. "But now, I don't think the attention will wane."

Carter did go out of his way to praise Bush for his efforts to end in 2005 Sudan's other great conflict, the two-decade old civil war between the north and south.

"I urged Bush on his inauguration day to change policy and seek peace in Sudan," Carter said. "I disagree with Bush on just about everything else, but I give him credit for bringing peace in Sudan."

During his tour of Darfur, Carter got a taste of the Sudanese regime's interference with those seeking to help ethnic African civilians when a local state security official barred him from meeting a refugee delegate in the town of Kabkabiya in North Darfur, a stronghold of the pro-government janjaweed militias accused of the worst atrocities.

Carter later played down the incident, saying the Sudanese national security official had "only been doing his job."

"But it's true that I'm not accustomed to people telling me I can't walk down the street and meet people," Carter said after having returned to a United Nations compound in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.

Most of the community leaders the mission met during its two-day visit to Darfur appeared to be government-vetted, and several ethnic African delegates told AP they had been intimidated by authorities into turning down invitations from the Elders.

The government denies it has indiscriminately retaliated against ethnic African civilians in the course of putting down the rebellion, but the International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued warrants against a Sudanese cabinet minister and a janjaweed chief on 52 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The Elders' visit came at a crucial time for Darfur, with a peacekeeping mission of 26,000 United Nations and African Union troops set to come in, and new peace talks between the government and rebels due to begin later this month.

On Sunday, 10 peacekeepers from the current AU force were slain when rebels overran their base in Haskanita, some 150 kilometers south east of El Fasher.

Gen. Martin Agwai, the AU troops' commander, told the Elders that the 7,000-strong force was ill-equipped to fight off the attackers. Agwai said it had also taken over 12 hours to evacuate injured peacekeepers from Haskanita because the AU currently doesn't have its own helicopters.

Tutu said it was "awful" that the AU had come to pacify a region nearly the size of France without the proper gear, funds or armament. The Elders vowed to push for countries to support to the new, hybrid U.N.-AU force due to take over on Jan. 1, and said they would draw up a list of advice for the new Darfur peace talks in neighboring Libya, which Carter anticipated would be "a very difficult process."

"These are important benchmarks ahead of us," Carter said, emphasizing that Sudan's most crucial next step was general elections across the country. The elections are due in 2009 according to a peace agreement signed between Sudan's government and rebels in the south of the country ending the long civil war.

Observers fear that delayed elections could lead to a breakdown in the peace agreement.
Carter, who turned 83 upon his arrival in Khartoum on Sunday, said he met with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who had committed to holding the elections on time and invited international observers from his foundation, the Carter Center, to monitor the vote.
Al-Bashir also announced Khartoum had committed US$100 million (€70 million) to a Darfur reconstruction fund, with China pledging another US$200 million (€140 million), Carter said.
Despite all the problems between northern and southern Sudan, Carter said he was convinced neither side was willing to go back to war.

"The elections are a crucial point, both for the stability of southern Sudan and the improvement of Darfur," he said.

The Carter Center has monitored 68 elections worldwide so far, and its founder said he was confident it could help make the vote a success throughout Sudan, even Darfur.
But he questioned the commitment of al-Bashir, who was brought to power in a military and Islamist coup in 1989. "When people have been in power for so long, and in an authoritarian regime like this one, they don't want to endanger their power," the former president said.

Town razed after occupation by Sudanese troops
The Guardian (London)
By Xan Rice
October 8, 2007

A Darfur town where rebels attacked an African Union base and killed 10 peacekeepers last week has been razed in an apparent retaliatory attack. The United Nations Mission in Sudan (Unmis) yesterday confirmed that Haskanita had been "burned down, except for a few buildings". The mission apportioned no blame, but noted that the town was "currently under the control of the government".

On Friday, rebel leaders claimed that government troops and allied militias had torched Haskanita, near the border of north and south Darfur, killing dozens of civilians and displacing thousands to nearby towns. At the time the allegations could not be verified. In its daily briefing yesterday, Unmis, which visited Haskanita to assess the humanitarian situation, confirmed the displacement, saying that only a few civilians had returned in search of food and water. The main market had been looted.

"We are not saying who did what to whom," said an Unmis spokesperson in Khartoum. "That is the job of the ceasefire commission chaired by the African Union."

There was no immediate reaction to the report from the Sudanese government, which had been involved in fierce fighting against the rebels in the Haskanita area before the attack on the African Union base on September 29. The late night raid by a rebel splinter group, which killed seven Nigerians and soldiers from Mali, Botswana and Senegal, was the deadliest since the peacekeepers were deployed in 2004. Government troops took control of the town within hours of the rout.

The attack threw into question peace talks between the Sudanese government and the main rebel groups which are scheduled to take place in Libya on October 27. It also highlighted the vulnerability of the international peacekeepers, who are outgunned and outmanned by the warring factions. The rebel attackers in Haskanita were said to number about 1,000 men. The entire peacekeeping force in Darfur, a region the size of France, is only 7,000 strong.

A "hybrid" African Union-UN force with 26,000 troops is meant to take over the peacekeeping mission, but is still months away from deployment. While Khartoum has agreed in principle to the scale-up, critics say that it has done little to end the fighting and to punish those responsible for mass killings in Darfur.

Only last week, Sudan announced that Ali Muhammad Al Abd-Al-Rahman, known as "Ali Kushayb", a government-allied militia leader who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, had been freed from prison for lack of evidence. A second accused, Ahmad Muhammad Harun, has retained his post as state minister of humanitarian affairs.

‘Dozens dead’ in Sudan Darfur raid
Al Jazeera
October 9, 2007

At least 40 civilians were killed in a Sudanese air and ground assault on the Darfur town of Muhajiriya, according to the rebel group that controls the area.

"Until now the number of dead civilians are at least 40, with 80 missing and a large number of injured," said a statement by the faction of the Sudan Liberation Army that controls the area.

"Bodies are still lying around the town as this statement is written," said Mohamed Hamid Dirbeen, the military spokesman for the Minni Minnawi faction of the Sudan Liberation Army, Reuters reported.

The group said at least four fighters were also killed in Monday's operation, AFP reported.

Martin Luther Agwai, the commander of African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, said civilians converged on their base nearby for safety.

His troops treated about two dozen injured civilians and combatants, but did not allow them to enter the base.

Minni Minnawi was the only one of three rebel negotiating groups to sign a May 2006 peace deal with Khartoum.

'Stab in the back'

After the signing of the May 2006 peace deal with Khartoum, the movement became part of the government.

Dirbeen said on Monday the raid was a "stab in the back of the Darfur peace agreement".

A UN official said Monday's attack and charges by rebels that troops had razed another Darfur town and killed 100 people in retaliation for an attack on African Union troops last month, showed the need to provide a planned UN-AU peacekeeping force with sufficient mobility and firepower.

Jean-Marie Guehenno, head of UN peacekeeping operations, said he was "very concerned" with the escalating violence in Darfur less than three weeks before scheduled peace talks in Libya.

The talks in Tripoli on October 27 are to encourage other factions to sign up to peace.

"At this stage, we cannot formally confirm any particular responsibility but it's very troubling that the city which was under the control of the government of Sudan could be burnt down," Guehenno said.

The French diplomat added that the incident "shows the importance of having troops that are very mobile, with the capacity to dominate any situation".

Darfur, in western Sudan, has suffered widespread fighting since 2003, killing about 200,000 people and forcing 2.5 million from their homes.

SUDAN: Darfur attackers "committed war crimes"
IRIN (Nairobi)
October 12, 2007

The attackers who killed 10 African Union (AU) peacekeepers in the volatile western Sudan region of Darfur committed a war crime and should be investigated to bring them to book, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

"Deliberately attacking peacekeepers is a war crime," said Peter Takirambudde, HRW’s Africa director. "The Sudanese government and the rebel groups should cooperate fully with an independent investigation into the dreadful attack in Haskanita."

According to aid workers, unidentified men attacked an AU base in Haskanita, North Darfur, killing the men on 29 September. Some policemen were also attacked while other troops were kidnapped. Most were from Nigeria.

Describing the attack as heinous, the chairman of the AU commission, Alpha Oumar Konaré, said investigations were under way to identify the attackers.

Nigerian army spokesman Colonel Solomon Giwa-Amu said the incident could influence Nigerian policy in Darfur.

"It is unfortunate and tragic," he said. "We are investigating the incident. It is not totally unconnected with the failure of the mandate giving for the peacekeeping ... If the UN had come out stronger against the Sudanese government, we wouldn’t have lost as many soldiers at a time. We are not there for war."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack and called for the perpetrators to be held fully accountable for this outrageous act, describing it as "brutal and shocking".

This was the worst single attack that the 7,000-strong force had suffered in the region. Since 2004, the force has lost at least 25 men, with dozens of others injured, according to aid workers.
A 26,000-member hybrid UN-AU operation was authorised in July and is to be deployed early in 2008.

However, aid workers worry that the worsening situation in Darfur is making it increasingly difficult to adequately respond to the needs of the displaced. "We have a humanitarian problem that will not go away quickly," said John Distefano, ACT-Caritas Darfur emergency response operation director.

Among the worries are increasing clashes between and among armed groups representing differing tribal, ethnic and political groupings; banditry and ambushes and increased tensions in camps for the displaced.

According to the Church World Service, anxiety within the camps is heightened by long-standing fears of attacks and rape by militias; idleness and boredom; issues of civilian "protection" and when it might become safe for the displaced to return to their home villages.

More than 240,000 people have been newly displaced or re-displaced in Darfur during 2007, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, with thousands of people fleeing their homes each week.

[back to contents]

Uganda (ICC)

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

Ugandan rebel delegates plan first visit to Kampala
Reuters
by Skye Wheeler
October 2, 2007

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Delegates from Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) plan to meet government officials in Kampala this week, senior officials said on Tuesday, in a potential boost to the country's peace process.

The visit to the Ugandan capital would be the first by LRA representatives since the start of the group's two-decade insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people.

"On Thursday the LRA delegation will travel to Kampala," said south Sudan President Salva Kiir in Juba.

"Even the Ugandans could not believe that these people can set foot there," he told a group of elder statesmen -- including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter -- on a visit to Sudan to help mediate various issues.

Officials said the LRA leaders, wanted by an international war crimes court, would however remain in the bush.

Under peace talks taking place in neighbouring south Sudan, the government is next due to discuss with LRA delegates how to deal with crimes committed during the conflict.

More than a year of the stop-start talks in Juba, capital of south Sudan, has raised hopes of an end to one of Africa's longest running conflicts.

Despite mutual accusations of violence and repeated walkouts by the LRA, a truce signed in August 2006 has largely held, and Kiir said a peace deal could be struck in the coming months.

"By the end of the year we may find a ... solution to this conflict," he said.

INDICTMENTS

Kiir said such a deal may help solve the dilemma over International Criminal Court indictments against LRA chief Joseph Kony and three other commanders for crimes such as killing civilians and abducting children to use as fighters and sex slaves.

Many Ugandans want Kony and his henchmen to face local courts and traditional reconciliation rituals instead, but the ICC insists it will not drop the case.

Uganda's chief government negotiator and Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda confirmed the LRA delegation's visit.

"The LRA delegates were invited by the government of Uganda and when they come they will be guests of the state," he told Reuters.

But he declined to say whether the LRA delegation would meet President Yoweri Museveni.

The one-day trip to Kampala is part of the LRA delegation's week-long tour of Uganda to discuss how peace should be implemented, and to gather people from war-affected areas in the LRA assembly point on the Sudan-Congo border.

Rebel Victims Promised Compensation
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
By Samuel Okiror Egadu
October 4, 2007

Museveni says funds to come from government’s reconciliation and rehabilitation programme.

The Uganda government will compensate victims of the two-decade insurgency in northern Uganda once a comprehensive peace deal is reached at the South Sudan-mediated peace talks in Juba, President Yoweri Museveni announced this week.

Museveni said people who have been mutilated or raped, together with those whose relatives have been murdered by rebels of the Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA, in the region will be compensated under the government’s programme of reconciliation and rehabilitation.

The head of state is touring northern districts of Uganda devastated by both the war and the country’s worst floods in 35 years.

“We are going to mobilise funds,” Museveni told reporters in Gulu, the north’s biggest town, on October 1. “The victims will be compensated once a comprehensive peace agreement is signed in Juba.”

Meanwhile, government officials in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, announced that LRA negotiators would meet government negotiators in Kampala on October 4 in what could be a fillip to the Juba talks.

The visit to Kampala would be the first by LRA representatives since the northern war began in 1986. The government officials emphasised, however, that the visit would last only a day and that the movement’s top leaders would not be part of the delegation. They will remain in their bush headquarters in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.

LRA spokesman in Juba Godfrey Ayoo said the chairman of the LRA delegation at the Juba talks, Martin Ojul, will lead a six-man team to Kampala.

LRA and government teams are currently engaged in on-off peace talks mediated by Dr Riek Machar, Vice President of the autonomous South Sudan government, and overseen by the United Nations special envoy for northern Uganda, former Mozambique president Joachim Chissano.

The talks in Juba, the South Sudan capital, are aimed at ending the 21-year insurgency that has displaced more than 1.7million people from their homes and resulted in more than 100,000 deaths. Some 75,000 people, including 38,000 children, have been abducted in LRA attacks.

Since negotiations began in July last year, with a ceasefire being agreed a month later, the war-ravaged region has been largely peaceful, and people have slowly begun returning to their homes from the squalid refugee camps.

Funding problems are currently stalling the Juba talks, which were adjourned on June 29. A date for their resumption keeps being set back, with mid-October now cited as the earliest possible date for a return to the table.

The rebels are requesting cash from international donors to carry out consultations with a wide range of northern representatives on accountability and reconciliation proposals that are on the table in Juba. The LRA argues that it needs the money to airlift 500 delegates from northern Uganda to the main rebel base in the 5,000 square kilometre Garamba National Park in the DRC. It also wants to fund travel for its negotiators to Argentina, South Africa and Sierra Leone to research issues of conflict, justice and reconciliation.

The government delegation has just concluded its own consultations in the north, collecting views from war victims and community leaders on issues of accountability and reconciliation, the third of five items on the agenda at the Juba talks.

Museveni, who told reporters that his government has devised a14-point programme for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the north, said, "I am told the victims in this area are ready to forgive these people [the LRA rebels] who committed various atrocities against them. I was worried the people would take the law in their hands when they [the rebels] return home."

During its consultations on accountability and reconciliation, the majority of LRA victims said they would forgive the rebels in the interests of peace, according to government reports.

The LRA leader, Joseph Kony, his deputy, Vincent Otti, and top commanders Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ogwen have been indicted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court, ICC, to answer charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The LRA leaders face 33 charges of murder, rape, sexual enslavement, mutilation, abduction and recruitment of child soldiers as guerrilla fighters. A fifth indicted LRA commander, Raska Lukwiya, was killed last year in a battle with government forces near Kitgum, on the border with Sudan.

The president said he hoped the Kony would grasp the chance of peace offered by the Juba peace negotiations.

Describing the LRA as terrorists who were supported by Sudan’s Arab government until the Juba talks began, Museveni said, "I hope Kony and his group will use the chance of peace talks. Before the start of the talks, we had managed to eliminate terrorism caused by these rebels and brought peace. We fought and defeated the terrorists who were disturbing us and those Sudan Arabs who were supporting them.

“We have built an army that is able to guarantee peace in Uganda. No one will destabilise again our peace. We now have the means to guarantee the security in the whole country - quickly, unlike in the past.”

Museveni said the government intended reopening schools that were abandoned in northern Uganda as a result of the war.

Museveni said the 14-point recovery programme includes elimination of terrorism, construction of roads, restoring education, instituting micro-finance projects, an industrialisation strategy and reconstructing health facilities.

Victims want say in Uganda peace talks
ISN Security Watch (in Nairobi)
By Daniel Auma
October 8, 2007

While the victims of one of Africa's most brutal wars are now enjoying some quiet months of peace, they regret being left out of the process that will determine their future, and hope mixes with skepticism.

For the first time in 20 years, residents of restive, war-torn northern Uganda are experiencing a modicum of peace, and though several months of quiet have reigned, it will take some time to heal open wounds.

The peace talks are aimed at ending the conflict that has raged in northern Uganda since 1988 when the elusive Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony took over leadership of a two-year old rebellion among northern Uganda's ethnic Acholi minority.

The LRA, formed in 1987, is a rebel guerilla army operating mainly in northern Uganda and parts of southern Sudan. The group is engaged in a rebellion against the Ugandan government in what is now one of Africa's longest-running conflicts. Kony proclaims himself a spirit medium and apparently wishes to establish a state based on the Ten Commandments and Acholi tradition.

The rebel group is accused of widespread human rights violations including mutilation, torture, rape and the abduction of civilians, the use of child soldiers and a number of massacres.

The peace talks were agreed to after Kony released a video in May 2006 in which he denied committing atrocities and seemed to call for an end to hostilities, in response to an announcement by President Yoweri Museveni that he would guarantee the safety of Kony if peace was agreed to by July.

A series of ongoing meetings have been held in Juba since July 2006 between the Ugandan government and the LRA. The talks, which resulted in a ceasefire in September 2006, have been described as the best chance for a negotiated settlement since the peace initiatives started in 1994.
Thousands of civilians have died in the war and nearly two million people have been displaced by the conflict and forced to live in squalid camps. The International Criminal Court (ICC) wants the LRA's top officials - among them Kony - to face charges including murder, rape and forcibly enlisting children.

A major achievement for the peace talks saw the rebels in southern Sudan pull back to a jungle hideout in Congo, removing serious security threats to millions of civilians in both northern Uganda and southern Sudan.

Victim voices

The UK-based charity Oxfam warns in a study released earlier this month that peace might not hold in Uganda if locals and other hundreds of thousands of other internally displaced victims are not made a part of the peace process.

The study, The Building Blocks for Sustainable Peace, is based on interviews with internally displaced persons (IDP) in camps in the Acholi region of northern Uganda.

The dilemma for the peace talks is that the 900,000 internally displaced victims of the insurgency want to own the peace process that would see their lives normalized. Oxfam warns that the LRA's failure to consult with the interested groups makes the potential outcome of the peace talks more vulnerable to collapse.

For Paul Okot, displaced from his home during the two-decade conflict and physically disabled, having lost his lips and earlobes to brutal insurgents, peace has little to do with official negotiations for a permanent ceasefire.

The 70-year-old, who spoke to an Oxfam research team, finds it much more difficult to forget the atrocities of the insurgency without the full participation of the locals in shaping its outcomes.

"I would like to give my opinion in the negotiations but I would not risk traveling to South Sudan. I really want the consultations to be near. Let them [the LRA] come here. We want them to come here. Why would I feel safe after what they have done to me?" Okot asked.

According to the report, the majority of northern Ugandans felt they were inadequately informed or consulted about the peace process and feared that the commitment of the negotiating parties might not hold long enough for the talks to meet a successful end.

Answering for atrocities

The peace talks are now in a state of deadlock, with the LRA demanding that Kampala promise to drop charges against the rebels at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to facilitate the negotiations.

According to the Oxfam study, many northern Ugandans doubt that a group as brutal as the LRA can herald peace in a region that has experienced so much atrocity committed by both sides of the conflict.

But LRA officials say that since the signing of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in Juba in August 2006, normalcy has returned to the restive region and incidences of abductions of young girls, for instance, have been greatly reduced.

Throughout the conflict, children by the thousands could be seen walking long distances in the middle of the night, running away from their IDP camps or homes in northern Uganda to seek safety in the bigger towns and cities, where they could more easily avoid abduction by the LRA.
"People stay out late into the night, the phenomenon of night commuting children is gone, transport and communication is picking up and business is steadily growing fast in Uganda and Southern Sudan," LRA spokesman Geoffrey Ayoo told ISN Security Watch in Nairobi.

"Even the Uganda People's Defense Forces [UPDF] soldiers who were deployed in the operation now have time to spend with their families. The Uganda peace talks in Juba have outlived the skeptics and enemies of peace. There will be no more war in our country because we want Uganda to develop," Ayoo said.

The Ugandan government and the rebels have promised to consult civilians affected by the conflict about justice and reconciliation settlements.

But the LRA's plan to airlift war victims into their jungle camp has been criticized by the Acholi traditional leader, Paramount Chief Rwot Achana, who says it will not lead to the meaningful consultation desired by victims.

Many of the affected communities interviewed by Oxfam said that justice without peace would serve no purpose; but they also felt that some form of justice was necessary though could not elaborate on exactly how justice could possibly be administered.

"There is little information getting through to the IDP population, which "reinforces the longstanding feeling of marginalization among much of the displaced population," the Oxfam study said.

Though more than half of those surveyed, 57 percent, said that security had improved since the start of peace talks in July 2006 and 60.5 percent were hopeful that conditions would improve further, most remain highly skeptical.

Responding to the Oxfam findings in Kampala this week, the Ugandan government assured victims of the insurgency that it was determined to find lasting peace so that those victims would return to their villages.

"For the population who have lived under the insurgency and in the camps for quite some time now, their skepticism and doubts are understandable," Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda told Ugandan media this week.

Balancing peace

Adam O'Brien, an analyst for the watchdog organization International Crisis Group (ICG), said the talks aimed at ending what has been termed one of Africa's most brutal wars have proceeded slowly, mostly due to mistrust between the parties, the ICC indictments and inadequate logistics.
"Addressing the LRA leaders' core security and livelihood concerns is key to peace, but direct engagement with their leaders, Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti, is needed," O'Brien told ISN Security Watch in Nairobi.

"The Juba peace process has matured in the last year and improved the lives of millions of civilians, both in northern Uganda and southern Sudan. But negotiating the remaining details and implementation requires more leverage, focus and discipline,” O'Brien said.

The analyst echoed the sentiments of the IDPs interviewed for the Oxfam report. "Many people feel they were left out of the peace process.[...]"

But, according to an source familiar with the talks, who answered questions posed by ISN Security Watch on the condition of anonymity, the people are involved.

"They are represented by their 'elders' and the representatives of civil society as well as their religious leaders," the source told ISN Security Watch. "The issue in my opinion is that their voice is included - as often as possible - in the process, but there it is not a good idea to overload the negotiation table with all sorts of vested interests."
Involvement of IDPs aside, the ICG warns in a September briefing that "the LRA is getting more from the process - food, money and security it can use to regroup and rebuild, and a chance to improve its image - than it is giving, and has reason to draw matters out."

"Many in the government and army are pursuing talks with less than full commitment. Museveni appears to want to increase the chance for an eventual military solution by showing that he has exhausted all peaceful options. Khartoum seeks to keep its old ally Kony in play as a proxy should Sudan’s shaky Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) falter," the ICG concludes.

Uganda: Owiny Lakaragic, northern Uganda - "you can't live with hatred"
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
October, 8 2007

I have heard [LRA deputy leader Vincent] Otti on the radio saying he will not die alone, he will take us down with him. We don’t want to risk more war. So I’m begging the International Criminal Court to drop their case and let peace come to northern Uganda.

It’s good for the rebels to come back now.

Our family was affected by the war just as much as the next. The rebels beat my brother so badly with an axe to the head and [he almost] died, although he can’t hear any longer. It was a miracle. But he still forgives.

If we can forgive then it is good for us too, because you can’t live with hatred.

When the Devil does something wrong, God would forgive him. That’s why he gave us Jesus, his son, to remove our sins; we must forgive them.

In Acholiland we have Mato oput and that’s what we want to use for the rebels. It’s the traditional ceremony we use for reconciliation. The elders of the two clans come together, one admits wrong-doing and then drinks the juice of a tree’s bitter roots. We come together, eat together, we slaughter a sheep and drink local beer together.

I’ve seen it three times. We had a Mato oput in the camp when my brother-in-law killed my sister and now we stay together without any complaints. He met another woman and when she produced a daughter, she was named after my sister.

Then my grandfather did Mato oput after he killed a man by mistake while hunting animals.
You have to admit wrong-doing as part of the ceremony, but I think that [LRA leader Joseph] Kony and Otti will admit they did wrong and ask for forgiveness. That won’t be a problem. But if they don’t say it, there will be another war.

I wouldn’t mind living next to Kony or Otti. If they are forgiven, they are forgiven, but I think they will move to Kampala and join the army. They are army men, not made for village life.

The government also did terrible things. Back then perhaps Kony was fighting for us but for a long while Kony has been fighting for nobody but Kony.

There is an old expression, ‘when the elephants are fighting it’s the grass that suffers’. And that was happening here for a long time. But then at one point the government turned to the civilians up here and said we don’t want to kill you, we don’t have a fight with you, we only want to kill the enemies. And that’s when we started going to them for protection.

So I’d say to Kony, don’t make enemies any longer. Come back and let us work hand in hand. Leave the killing and let peace come to northern Uganda.

What do we need now? We need tools for return, tools to rebuild the country - spades for digging the latrines, tarpaulins for the roofs.

It’s good for the UN to give us the money and not the food – let us buy the food. But people need to work and that isn’t encouraged if they are given free food. If I had money I would buy cattle or tools. We need seeds now not food.

Our big problem here is the water. It is almost one and a half miles to the well. It was horribly dirty before I cleaned it out the day before yesterday. It’s clean now but it’s just too far away.

Then we have problems with health and education. We have seven villages in the parish. If they can’t build a health centre or school here in the village then they should build them in the next village. We need some in the parish, some facilities in the east and some in the west, but not to go all the way back to the camp.

Beginnings of "real peace"

I see the beginnings of real peace this time. Previously we had talks, but they were not serious. This will be different.

Some people said ‘don’t go back’. They were worried about the peace talks and said I’d die here, but I didn’t believe them.

I listen to the local radio Mega FM all the time and the BBC. And the news is good. If there is a problem we will know quickly and if they do fail then I can go back the next day and be in the camp well before the rebels.

But I didn’t want to go to one of these resettlement sites - they are just camps by another name. I’m not going to another camp - I refuse - enough of camps! I wanted to come back home to what’s mine, so that’s what I’ve done.

When I first came back all I could hear was the birds singing. So quiet, it was beautiful. I thought I was dreaming and started to cry.

I went to the place where I buried my father and prayed. And then I came back out here and started my job.

At first I hacked and burnt the bush. And I made charcoal to sell in the camp. With the money I bought a bicycle to take things to market and I paid for my eldest son’s wife.

Then I started to dig with my eldest boys.

Now we have built three huts here. They are just simple huts, but when I have the money and the grass is good I will build better ones - 10 or more - enough for all the family.

Next, I’m planning to buy an ox for ploughing. We used to have some oxen, but the Karamojong, the neighbouring pastoralists, came and stole them in 1996. I had 80 cows.

Today I’m digging here and planting the beans. In August we will be planting sim-sim [used to make oil] and groundnuts.

It’s very good to be eating the old Acholi food. It’s tasty and with the greens and groundnuts it makes you strong for the fields.

Why wait for four or five mugs of beans [of food aid]? I want to do my own thing.

Some [people] have become lazy and drunk in the camp. They start drinking at sunrise and they don’t finish until sunset. Unless they are returned by force, some of those lazy people will not go back to the village.

Yesterday I went to the camp to tell my brothers to come back and they agreed. They are just waiting for the grass.

I told my brothers not to waste time waiting for food like birds. A bird cannot dig, but we are not birds, we are men.

Events in 1994

I originally left here in 1994. We were suddenly woken by gunfire as the rebels came in the middle of the night. It was terrifying. They knocked down the door, dragged us out and beat us.

They beat me so badly that I Iost my teeth. Then they stabbed me with a knife in the top of my head. They showed no mercy and when they left they took two of my sons with them - Okuya, who was 13 at the time, and Okulu, who was just eight.

After they took the boys the government came and took us to the camp. I was happy to leave because after that we just wanted somewhere safe.

Until this day I don’t know what happened to them. Are they alive, are they dead, will they come and walk out of the bush? That’s the news that I wait to hear from Juba - what happened to my sons?

I was the last to leave the land and now I’m the first to come back. I’m proud of that.

Life in the camp

Life in the camp was very difficult. Firstly, we were hungry. Then it spoiled the children. Girls became prostitutes or started having sex when they were too young - just nine years old. But it was also bad for the boys. They would roam around at night and go dancing. HIV/AIDS is the camp’s curse. My fear was that my children would catch it, but thank God they haven’t. That’s why I left Acet as soon as I could.

I want to serve my children well as a father. I lost four of them in the camp to malaria and I thought ‘I have to get them out of here’.

I have 13 remaining children and most of them are still in the camp, where they are going to school. In time they will join us here too and start a new life.

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International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Official Website of the ICTY

War Crimes Suspect Tolimir Says in Good Health
Javno
October 10, 2007

Tolimir is alleged to have helped Mladic plan and execute the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995.

Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect General Zdravko Tolimir has denied he is putting his life at risk by not taking medication, saying he is in good health.

"I am in excellent physical health, which can be confirmed by all other detainees and I suffer from no health problems whatsoever," he said in a statement issued on Wednesday by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Tolimir, 59, a close aide of Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, faces genocide and war crimes charges related to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims.

Last week, the U.N. warcrimes tribunal in the Hague said Tolimir ran the risk of a stroke or heart attack by refusing medical treatment for high blood pressure.

He is suffering from an aneurism in his brain, as well as a serious heart condition, both of which are exacerbated by his high blood pressure. Tolimir said he stopped taking the medication after he was arrested on May 31 in Belgrade and handed over to the court. He has not given a reason for stopping the medication other than to say he does not feel he needs it anymore.

Tolimir is alleged to have helped Mladic plan and execute the massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995, and is thought by military experts to have helped the commander evade arrest since.

Tolimir's arrest raised hopes that Mladic and his political boss Radovan Karadzic could be caught, but U.N. prosecutor Carla del Ponte has said that Serbia's progress in capturing suspected war criminals was too slow.

Frmr. State Security Officer Testifies in Haradinaj Trial
B92
October 11, 2007

THE HAGUE -- The trial of Haradinaj and two other ex-KLA leaders continued at the Hague Tribunal this week.

In his examination-in chief, Zoran Stijovic, the former chief of the analysis section in the Priština Security Service office, now a prosecution witness at the Hague, talked about the intelligence Serbian police (MUP) had on the involvement of Idriz Balaj in Kosovo crimes and his ties with the first accused Ramush Haradinaj.

In the cross-examination, the defense of the former KLA members mostly focused on alleged crimes committed by the Serbian police and its purported practice of transferring bodies away from the crime scenes.

Apparently, the defense teams of the three former KLA commanders do not believe that Stijovic’s evidence prejudiced their clients. In the cross examination, they focused on questions about the Serbian police, rather than the KLA.

When he answered the prosecutor’s questions, Stijovic claimed that the police had reliable intelligence on the involvement of Idriz Balaj in the crimes against Kosovo Serbs, Albanians and Roma and of the fact that he acted under Haradinaj’s control.

Ramush Haradinaj's defense did not pay much attention to this topic in the four hours it took to cross-examine Stijovic, choosing to focus on the transfer of bodies of the dead Albanian civilians killed in the NATO campaign of 1999, roughly a year after the crimes allegedly committed by their client, and the involvement of paramilitary groups in the Kosovo conflict at that time.

Stijovic answered that he was only partially informed of the activities of paramilitary and military units in the field as he was mostly working in his office. He was more forthcoming on the transfer of bodies from Kosovo to Serbia.

The information was based mainly on his "preliminary interview’"with Rade Markovic, former head of Security Service, in June 2001. Stijovic had already given evidence about this at the trial of Slobodan Miloševic.

Stijovic confirmed the authenticity of Markovic’s statement where he named Miloševic as the person who issued the order to transfer the bodies from Kosovo to Batajnica near Belgrade.

Vlajko Stojiljkovic, former minister of the interior, carried out the transfer, using police personnel, Markovic said in his statement. The defense has focused on this since the beginning of the trial in an attempt to prove it was possible that the Serbian police transferred bodies "not only in 1999, but also in 1998."

They claim the police threw bodies of Serbs, Albanians and Roma in the Radonjic lake canal "and then went on to blame the killings to the KLA."

The defense counsel devoted very little time to the effort to contest the reliability of the information gathered by the Serbian Security Service in Kosovo from statements it obtained from Albanians under arrest.

It showed two statements given by two such persons after their release to the activists of human rights organizations. The two say that they signed their statements "after being tortured in the police detention unit."

Stijovic allowed it was possible that the police officers in some situations did use force. This, he said, "happens in all police forces all over the world," adding that defendants often deny the statements they gave to the police once they appear in court.

The defense counsel of Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj also showed more interest in what the police did than in the KLA attacks against Serbian armed forces and Albanian and Serb civilians Stijovic was there to testified about.

A day earlier, Stijovic told the court there were several KLA strongholds, such as those in the villages of Prekaze, Jablanica and Glodane. They were run by Jashari, Brahimaj and Haradinaj families.

In early 1998, the Haradinaj clan, headed by Ramush Haradinaj, took over.

Last week, the witness described in detail the way in which the Serbian MUP obtained intelligence on KLA operations, to this week speak about the intelligence itself.

Before the spring of 1998, he says, the KLA operated in groups, attacking Serbian police patrols and the so-called collaborationists – local Albanians who were believed to be collaborating with the Serbian authorities.

The witness said that the "shoot and run" attacks had often been synchronized, indicating that the KLA groups were in contact with each other in this period.

In May 2007, the prosecution called former KLA spokesman Jakup Krasniqi and tendered into evidence a number of press releases in which the KLA assumed responsibility for the majority of attacks on the Serbian MUP officers in 1996 and 1997.

Krasniqi claimed that the press releases were "a conscious exaggeration" designed to "convince the Albanians about the strength and seriousness of the KLA." The journalists "misinterpreted" the contents.

Now, the prosecution used Stijovic’s testimony to prove that the claims in the KLA press releases were true. He confirmed that the intelligence the Priština State Security obtained almost always tallied with the KLA press releases, giving the example of the attack on the Serbian refugee settlement in the village of Babaloc in February 1996.

Before the armed rebellion started in earnest in early 1998, the main KLA strongholds were in the villages of Prekaze, Jablanica and Glodane, the witness said.

They were controlled by the Jashari, Brahimaj and Haradinaj families. In 1997, the KLA tried to set up a corridor in the Drenica area, leading to the Albanian border. Glodjane was one of the major strategic points on that axis.

This was a factor that contributed to the strengthening of the Haradinaj clan and to establishing Ramush Haradinaj as the first man in the KLA in that area.

After the beginning of 1998, and in particular after the battle of Glodane against the Serbian police was won on March 24, 1998, Ramush Haradinaj was the "alpha and omega" in the Pec area, Stijovic said.

226 Bodies Exhumed From Grave in Bosnia
Associated Press
By Aida Cerkez-Robinson
October 12, 2007

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Forensic experts have exhumed the remains of 226 victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre from a mass grave in eastern Bosnia, officials said Thursday.

The mass grave, the third found in Zeleni Jadar, near Srebrenica, and one of dozens discovered in eastern Bosnia, contained only 34 complete bodies, while the rest were incomplete, said Murat Hurtic, the head of the forensic team.

This mass grave, like most of those found in the Srebrenica area, is filled with bodies moved from an original mass grave to try to cover up the crime, officials said. The perpetrators typically used bulldozers, which damaged the bodies. Experts sometimes find parts of the same body in different graves, making the task of identifying the victims more difficult. They have to reassemble the bodies using DNA analysis to return them to their families.

According to documents found among the remains, it was certain that they were Muslim civilians killed after Bosnian Serb troops overran the eastern town of Srebrenica in 1995, Hurtic said. The victims were killed with firearms and hand grenades, he said.

Next week, his team will open the fourth mass grave discovered in Zeleni Jadar.

The systematic execution of about 8,000 men was the worst massacre in Europe since World War II and is considered an act of genocide.

So far, nearly 3,000 Srebrenica victims have been found, identified and buried in the Potocari Memorial Center near Srebrenica.

Another 5,000 bags with remains of victims found in nearly 60 mass graves in eastern Bosnia are still waiting to be identified before being returned to their families.

Experts Discuss Future of ICTY and ICTR Archives
IWPR
By Merdijana Sadovic
October 12, 2007

Legal experts gathered in The Hague this week to discuss the future of the archives of both the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, ICTR.

The expert committee - chaired by former ICTY and ICTR prosecutor, Justice Richard Goldstone - is undertaking a study which should provide the two tribunals with an independent analysis of how best to ensure future accessibility of the archives.

They will also review different locations that may be appropriate for housing the tens of thousands of documents.

The experts will, among other things, discuss the establishment of a single joint archive, two separate archives or multiple archives and will recommend the best option.

“The work of the independent committee is crucial for the preservation of the legacy of the two tribunals and for the victims, as well as for the future for international criminal justice,” said Justice Goldstone, in a press release this week.

Both tribunals are due to complete their mission in the coming years and are working to put in place a clear system that will best serve the interests of people in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, as well as the international community.

Numerous important elements regarding the tribunals' immensely important archives will be assessed in this study, which will decide how their security, accessibility and preservation can be protected.

According to the committee’s statement, these archives contain a vast number of records. For example, the Office of the Prosecutor, OTP, possesses several million pages of evidence, and the Registries Court Management Support Sections hold tens of thousands of hours of videotaped courtroom proceedings.

“The tribunals’ archives are a unique and invaluable resource for the peoples of Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, the United Nations and the international community. The many benefits of and uses for the archives include their role to facilitate ongoing and future prosecutions, serve as a historic record, as well as contribute to peace and reconciliation in the regions,” read the statement.

The expert team is due to submit an interim report to the tribunals’ registrars during the first quarter of 2008. Before that, members of the team will be visiting all regions involved to consult governments and civil society on this issue and will also meet with relevant international NGOs.

This study is being undertaken by a team of internationally recognised experts in the archives and legal professions. The team dealing specifically with the ICTY archive is composed of Professor Dr Eric Ketelaar, a former national archivist of The Netherlands, and Cecile Aptel, a former staff member of both the ICTY and ICTR.

The ICTR-related team is made up of Professor Dr Saliou Mbaye, former national archivist of Senegal and Judge M Chande Othman, judge at the Tanzanian High Court, former prosecutor at the East Timor UN administration, and former chief prosecutor at the ICTR.

Serbia puts up €1m reward for the capture of General Mladic
The Independent
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic
October 13, 2007

Serbia has put up a reward of €1m (£700,000) for information leading to the arrest of the Bosnian Serb fugitive General Ratko Mladic.

Rasim Ljajic, who is in charge of Serbia's co-operation with the UN war crimes tribunal, said yesterday. "The decision on the award was made by the Council for National Security late last night."

An additional €1m will apparently be paid by the Serbian government for any information on Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian-Serb former political leader who shares the indictment with Mladic for the genocide of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995. But Mr Ljajic repeated claims that Mr Karadzic is not hiding in Serbia, which is why the government has not officially offered money for his capture.

Serbia is to also pay rewards of €250,000 each for information that might lead to the arrests of the other two remaining war crimes suspects, Stojan Zupljanin and Goran Hadzic, Mr Ljajic said. "The offered rewards are a demonstration that Belgrade is serious about capturing the remaining war crimes fugitives," Mr Ljajic added.

General Mladic is widely believed to be hiding in Serbia, where his whereabouts can be accounted for until 2005; Mr Karadzic's whereabouts remain a secret, although there are indications he is hiding in the mountainous border region of eastern Bosnia and northern Montenegro.

The arrest of General Mladic remains the key condition for Serbian entry into the European Union, which will discuss progress on the issue at a foreign ministers' lunch on Monday. The rewards offer comes only days before the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, submits her latest evaluation report on Serbia's co-operation with the international war crimes court. A negative report might block the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement by Serbia and the EU later this year.

The Serbian Council for National Security was established last year to co-ordinate the work of Serbian secret services in the search for war crimes suspects hiding in the country since the end of the Bosnian war in 1995.

Human Rights Watch called on EU foreign ministers this week to respect the high threshold of Serbia's extradition of Mladic as a condition for the agreement to be signed.

The war crimes issue remains the most controversial in Serbia, where opinion is still divided over the 1992-95 war. For many, General Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian-Serb army, remains a hero who did nothing wrong. For his supporters, the war crimes tribunal represents a "conspiracy against the noble Serb nation".

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The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

Official Website

Custody terminated for Šefik Alic
Court of BiH
October 3, 2007

Today, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) rendered a decision terminating custody and imposing restrictive measures on Šefik Alic. The Accused was immediately released from custody in accordance with the Court’s decision.

Restrictive measures imposed on the Accused include the following:

• prohibition of attending social gatherings on the territories of Bužim and Bosanska Krupa Municipalities and

• prohibition of meeting with witnesses listed in the indictment.

Šefik Alic was held in custody since 2 November 2006. On 31 January 2007, the Court confirmed an indictment which charges Šefik Alic with War crimes against prisoners of war. The indictment alleges that during the armed conflict on the territory of BiH and the Republic of Croatia, in the capacity of the Assistant Commander of the Hamza Battalion for Security of the 5th Corps of the Army of BiH, Šefik Alic acted contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions. According to the allegations in the indictment, the Accused, inter alia, participated in the physical and mental abuse of war prisoners, instigated their killings and failed to undertake measures to punish the perpetrators.

Indictment confirmed in the case of Sreten Lazarevic and Others
Court of BiH
October 8, 2007

On 5 October 2007, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) confirmed an indictment which charges Sreten Lazarevic, Dragan Stanojevic, Mile Markovic, and Slobodan Ostojic with War crimes against civilians.

The indictment alleges that, in the period between May 1992 and March 1993, as members of Army of the Serb Republic of BiH – Reserved police force of the Zvornik Police Department, the Accused acted contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Convention.

The indictment, inter alia, alleges that in June 1992, Sreten Lazarevic, in the capacity of deputy warden of the detention camp (located in the premises of the Magistrate Court and later at the DP Novi Izvor building) together with camp guards Mile Markovic and Slobodan Ostojic beat up four detainees as a result of which one of the detainees lost consciousness. The indictment alleges that in June 1992, Sreten Lazarevic handed over one detainee to the group of unidentified civilians who beat him up in the near by garage and than took him in an unknown direction and he still remains uncounted for. According to the indictment, on several occasions, Sreten Lazarevic permitted groups of Serb soldiers to enter detention centre where they physically and sexually harassed detainees.

According to the indictment on several occasions, Dragan Stanojevic, in the capacity of camp guard, enabled groups of Serb soldiers to torture and abuse detainees. The indictment alleges that in September 1992, Dragan Stanojevic beat up one ninety year old detainee.

Serbian War Criminal Predrag Kujundzic Arrested
Bosnia News
October 11, 2007

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 11,2007) – Acting on a warrant issued by the Bosnian State Prosecutor's Office, agents of the Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) arrested Serbian war criminal Predrag Kujundzic early yesterday morning.

According to a statement issued by the Bosnian State Prosecutor's Office, Serbian war criminal Predrag Kujundzic, born on 30 January 1961, was arrested in the Doboj area. He is charged of committing war crimes against Bosnian and Croatian civilians in 1992 and 1993,during the Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Serbian war criminal was handed over to the competent prosecutor in the War Crimes Chamber of the Bosnian State Court, who will examine him and decide on an eventual motion for a custody order.

Serbian war criminal Predrag Kujundzic's name is associated with the "Predini vukovi" ("Predo's Wolves") ,a genocidal paramilitary formation of the Serbians living in Bosnia. In the past few years Serbian war criminal Predrag Kujundzic has been included in the list of suspected supporters of ICTY fugitive Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic. For that reason, he has been banned from entering EU countries and the US since 2003.

In 2000 the Cantonal Prosecution in Zenica received approval from the ICTY to file an indictment against Serbian war criminal Predrag Kujundzic.

The "Predini vukovi" group is also cited in the ICTY indictment against Serbian war criminal Slobodan Milosevic. In the indictment, this genocidal Serbian paramilitary group was associated with war crimes committed in the Bosnian city of Doboj during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Radic et al: Mother and Child in Vojno
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
October 11, 2007

Protected witness R reveals some of her recollections of 80 days spent in Vojno detention camp. Protected prosecution witness "R" claims to have been detained for 80 days, together with her two-year son, in the village of Vojno, Mostar municipality. The Croatian Defence Council (HVO) turned the settlement into a detention camp for Bosniaks in 1993.

"Members of HVO Brigade from Bijelo polje came to our apartment on 13 September 1993. They took me, my mother, my toddler son and husband. We were taken to Vojno detention camp, together with one more family. Women stayed in a house, that had two rooms. Instead of glass, the windows were covered with wooden boards," the witness has said.

The Prosecution of BiH charges Marko Radic, known as Maka, Dragan Sunjic, known as Petarda, Damir Brekalo and Mirko Vracevic, as members of Bijelo Polje Brigade, with having participated in the "torture, mental and physical maltreatment, daily beating, unlawful capture and detention of Bosniaks".

Describing the conditions in Vojno detention camp, the witness has said that the detainees used to get three meals a day, but "the lunch consisted of pork, bread that was ten days old, and the supper was made of stinky fish that was not edible".

"The children did not get milk. On one occasion, before entering our room, Dragan Sunjic, Mirko Vracevic and deceased camp commander Marko Mihalj poured some milk and gave it to a cat and a dog who were in front of the house, while our children were looking at them," the witness has said.

During direct examination, the witness has said that she saw Marko Radic twice during her detention. The first time she saw him was "when she was invited to the headquarters," and the second time when the exchange was conducted on 2 December 1993.

The witness has said that Vracevic was a guard and she claims to have never seen Damir Brekalo. She has recalled that the detainees had to address Sunjic as "Mister Deputy Commander".

Protected witness R has also said that women performed forced labour. She has recalled that she once had to clean "the garage in which men were detained".

"When I entered I saw blood on the floor and walls, everything was covered with blood. I shall remember this all my life. It smelled so bad that I had to throw up immediately," the witness has said, adding that she did not see any detainees, because, as far as she knows, they all "performed forced labour" at the time.

The trial is due to continue on 29 October.

Mejakic et al: Detention in Accordance with Geneva Convention
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
October 11, 2007

The Prosecution of BiH has presented an order issued by the Public Security Centre from Banja Luka, which also covered Prijedor, indicating that prisoners "should be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention". Other documents have also been presented, by which the Prosecution is trying to prove allegations contained in the indictment - that there was a plan for taking over the control of Prijedor municipality.

The Prosecution of BiH charges Zeljko Mejakic, Momcilo Gruban, Dusan Fustar and Dusko Knezevic with having participated in rape, torture, murder and beating of Bosniaks and Croats detained in Omarska and Keraterm detention camps in the course of 1992.

Indictee Fustar's defence attorney Dragan Ivetic has objected to the inclusion of the Public Security Centre's order dated August 1992, because "it does not concern the inductees and it is irrelevant".

"The Prosecution of BiH considers this document relevant, because the question of what led to the issuance of such an order is a legitimate question," Prosecutor Peter Kidd has explained. The Trial Chamber has admitted the document after hearing his explanation.

The Prosecution of BiH has also presented four lists containing names of 97 persons who "should be apprehended to the collection centre in Omarska" dated June and July 1992. It has also presented a list of reserve policemen of the Public Security Centre in Prijedor who were "engaged in Omarska and Keraterm".

The 37 pieces of material evidence presented, on 11 October, by the Prosecution of BiH also include a letter signed by Simo Drljaca, dated October 1995, concerning assignment of a rank to Zeljko Mejakic.

"The letter indicates that Mejakic performed the functions of wartime police station commander in Omarska from April 1992 to July 1993," Kidd has said. Attorney Ivetic has pointed out that the document contains "incorrect information" and that its "authenticity is questionable".

"Mejakic says that he saw this document for the first time when he was in The Hague. He also says it contains incorrect information. The authenticity of the document is questionable and I hope the Prosecution of BiH does not think that each document obtained from The Hague is correct," Ivetic has said.

The indictment alleges that, from 24 May to 30 August 1992, Mejakic was commander of Omarska detention camp, in which around 3,000 Bosniaks and Croats were detained.

According to the indictment filed in The Hague, Drljaca was a member of the Emergency Headquarters in Prijedor and Chief of the Public Security Centre in Banja Luka from 30 April to 31 December 1992. In July 1997, he was killed in the course of an arrest operation conducted by SFOR as per an order issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

The Prosecution of BiH has also presented a solemn oath of police officers signed by Gruban in May 1992, Guidelines on Organization and Activities of Serbs in Extraordinary Circumstances dated December 1991, Decision on Attachment of the Autonomous Region of Bosanska Krajina, Decision on Strategic Objectives of the Serbian Population in BiH dated May 1992, etc.

The Prosecution of BiH charges Momcilo Gruban, also known as Ckalja, with having been one of the guard commanders in Omarska detention camp from 24 May to 30 August 1992.

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International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

Official Website of the ICTR

Country Sends Proof of Competence to ICTR
AllAfrica.com - Hirondelle News Agency
By Felly Kimenyi
October 1, 2007

Tribunal - The Government has sent a document containing proof to show the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that it has the capability to handle cases from the UN tribunal.

This comes after the tribunal requested Rwanda to prove its capacity to try one Fulgence Kayishema, an ICTR indicted fugitive, who is still at large. "We have sent the document detailing our capacity to handle the case and we shall be waiting for what court will have to rule about it," John Bosco Mutangana, the Spokesman of the Prosecutor General's office, said yesterday.

The briefs that were sent to the tribunal will, according to Mutangana, be presented by a Rwandan official who is yet to be named.

But sources said that it might be presented by Aloys Mutabingwa, Rwanda's special representative to the ICTR. The case of Kayishema, a former judicial police officer, was the first to be requested for referral by the ICTR prosecutor to Rwandan jurisdiction under the rule 11 bis, which determines the transfer of files for cases from ICTR to the national jurisdiction.

Bubacar Jallow, the ICTR prosecutor, moved a motion to a trial chamber requesting for the referral of this case to Rwandan jurisdiction. "We think this is the right time for us to demonstrate that we are in position to handle these cases given the reforms our judiciary has undergone," Mutangana said. According to Kayishema's indictment, he is accused of Genocide, complicity in Genocide, complicity to commit Genocide and crimes against humanity for extermination. According to agencies, the chamber had requested "details on the practical provisions which will be taken to guarantee the right of the defendant to legal aid, in the event of a transfer of the case to Rwandan courts". The bench also wanted to know if the fairness of the proceedings and the protection of the defendant will be the same as with the ICTR.

Rwanda is tipped as the probable destination for the remaining cases by the back-logged tribunal after its mandate expires next year for those cases in substance while appeals are supposed to have been completed by 2010.

In an effort to suit the international standards which are required to try these cases, Rwanda in February passed a special law waiving the death penalty on those suspects that would be transferred from ICTR and others that may be extradited from other countries. However, the capital sentence was later scrapped at once from the Rwandan penal code in a bylaw that was passed in July. Also in preparation for these cases, a modern prison was built in Mpanga in the Southern Province where these suspects will be detained.

Another transit facility is under construction at the Kigali Central Prison where suspects on trial will be temporarily detained within the course of their trials. The special law that was passed in preparation for the ICTR suspect transfers provides that the trials will be taking place on first instance at Kigali High Court while appeals will be logged at the Supreme Court.

Another motion by Jallow to have three suspects in detention at the ICTR facility in Arusha, Tanzania, was filed recently. The suspects are Lieutenant Ildephonse Hategekimana and the former merchants Gaspard Kanyarukiga and Yussuf Munyakazi. Established in 1995 by the UN Security Council, the tribunal has only rendered 32 judgments, five of which are acquittals.

Among the completed cases is that of former prime minister Jean Kambanda, who was sentenced to life imprisonment and is currently detained in Mali along with five other Genocide convicts.

A Witness Admits That He Changes His Testimony According to the Trial
AllAfrica.com - Hirondelle News Agency
October 3, 2007

A witness for the prosecution recognized Wednesday that he changes his testimony according to the trial in which he is testifying in before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

Protected witness "AMB" has been testifying since Monday in the trial, known as "Karemera", of three former senior officials of the former governing party in Rwanda accused of genocide and crimes against humanity.

He had testified for the first time at the ICTR in February 1999 in the trial of Alfred Musema, sentenced to life in prison in 2000.

The two testimonies differ in many regards relating to the responsibility in the massacres on the hills of Bisesero, in the west of the country.

"The chamber must understand that your testimonies vary according to the people whom you have to accuse or not?", AMB was asked by Diagne Dior (Senegal), the lawyer of former Minister Edouard Karemera, one of the defendants.

Edouard Karemera was a vice-president of the governing party in Rwanda in 1994. AMB accused him of having played a crucial role in the attacks against Tutsis that had taken refuge in Bisesero between April and June 1994. Diagne Dior pertinently raised the point that when AMB had testified on the same facts in 1999, he had not even mentioned his client.

"My testimony changes when certain people are arrested. I say to you that there are people who have not been arrested and whom we have not yet accused. I say to you that my testimony changes as people are arrested ", answered the witness.

AMK maintained his position when the lawyer suggested to him that "the truth is immutable" and that he could not be melded to peoples' moods.

"I can talk about ten people today. There are also other people whom we thought had died and who have reappeared. And when they resurface, they are charged. We will continue to do it until these people are convicted", AMK stated.

Dior pointed out to him that, in this case, his logic had not been respected because Edouard Karemera was arrested in Togo on 5 June 1998, that is to say eight month before his first testimony at the ICTR.

AMK had been called by the prosecutor in the trial of the former director of the tea factory of Gisovu, near Bisesero, Alfred Musema, sentenced to life in prison in 2000.

In 1999, AMK had stated that the attacks on Bisesero had been directed by Musema assisted, in particular, by the prefect and the local mayors.

"I did not know that Mr. Karemera had been arrested when I testified in the Musema trial", the witness replied.

Edouard Karemera, who has pled not guilty, is on trial alongside Mathieu Ngirumpatse and Joseph Nzirorera, his colleagues within the direction of the former governing party, the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND)

This group trial began on 19 September 2005. The prosecutor should rest his case in March 2008 and the proceedings should last beyond the ICTR mandate, which ends in December 2008. The presiding judge of the chamber is Dennis Byron (Saint-Kitts and Nevis), who is also president of the ICTR. He is assisted by Burkinabean Judge Gberdao Gustave Kam and Danish Judge Vagn Joensen.

This project is funded by Belgium, European community, Norway and Luxemburg

ICTR Prisoners Launch Hunger Strike to Protest Rwanda Case Transfers
Jurist Legal News & Research
By James M. Yoch Jr.
October 9, 2007

Approximately 40 inmates in a Tanzania prison awaiting trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] began a hunger strike Monday to protest the planned transfer of three ICTR cases to the national courts of Rwanda. In September, the ICTR prosecutor asked the tribunal to transfer the cases so that the prosecution could be completed before the end of the ICTR's mandate in December 2008. The prisoners complained in a letter dated October 5 that the Rwandan government could not ensure fair trials and asked the UN to either extend the ICTR's mandate or transfer the cases to countries other than Rwanda

In August, the ICTR revoked a previous order transferring the case against Michel Bagaragaza to a local court in the Netherlands, after the country expressed doubt that its court system could handle the trial. The ICTR was established to try genocide suspects for crimes occurring during the 1994 Rwandan conflict between Hutus and Tutsis. The ICTR began the process of transferring genocide cases to Rwandan courts after the country abolished the death penalty earlier this year. Hirondelle News Agency has more. DPA has additional coverage.

Launching of a Study on the Archives of the International Tribunal
AllAfrica.com - Hirondelle News Agency
October 10, 2007

A study on the archives of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and on those of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) will be undertaken by the South African Judge Richard Goldstone, it was learned from an official source at the ICTR.

According to an ICTR press release, "the work of this independent committee is crucial for the safeguarding of the legacy of the two tribunals, for the victims as for the future of international criminal justice", affirmed Judge Goldstone, who was the first prosecutor of the two "ad hoc" tribunals.

According to the text, these archives of the two tribunals consist of thousands of pages of evidence and several tens of thousands of hours of video recordings of the proceedings.

This committee will return its report by the end of the first quarter of 2008. Safety, accessibility as well as the safeguarding of the archives will have to be considered by the committee.

It will be composed for the ICTY of Professor Eric Ketelaar, former head of the Dutch public archives, as well as Mrs. Cécile Aptel, who worked in the two tribunals.

For the ICTR, Mr. Salou Mbaye, former head of the Senegalese public archives, and a judge from the Tanzanian appeals chamber Chande Othman, former chief prosecutor then prosecutor in Timor-Leste, were appointed.

The Netherlands, which has hosted since 1993 the ICTY and the International Criminal Court since its creation, already proposed to accommodate, in a building which would be built for this purpose, in The Hague the archives of the two international tribunals. Rwanda has also let known its intention to receive the archives of the ICTR.

The ICTR Lawyers Denounce the Transfers of Accused to Rwandan Courts
AllAfrica.com - Hirondelle News Agency
October 10, 2007

The Association of defence counsels (ADAD) at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) denounced Wednesday the project to transfer to Rwandan courts some accused from this United Nations tribunal, in an official statement published Wednesday.

On 7 September, the ICTR prosecutor, Hassan Bubacar Jallow, addressed to the president of the t/ribunal motions aiming at transferring to Rwandan courts Lieutenant Ildephonse Hategekimana and the former businessmen Gapard Kanyarukiga and Yussuf Munyakazi.

"The ADAD denounces the transfer of ICTR cases to Rwanda as a violation of the rights of the accused to a fair trial and urges the ICTR judges to reject the prosecution's motions for transfers", indicates the official statement.

"The ICTR, in the interest of reconciliation, is mandated to prosecute all parties in the Rwandan conflict which are accused of crimes ", writes the ADAD in this official statement distributed to the press by the president of the association, American Peter Erlinder.

For the ADAD, "the ICTR detainees, who could be key potential witnesses against the crimes of the current RPF regime, are considered by the Kagame government in Rwanda , as enemies and have already been presumed guilty".

"After 13 years, only one side, the Hutus, has been tried and there has not yet been an indictment issued against the RPF", points out the ADAD, accusing the ICTR of practicing "victor's justice".

"The ICTR judges should not make themselves accomplices in this further distortion of the ICTR mandate by delivering UN detainees to the control of those who should themselves be defendants at the ICTR ", the text adds.

On Monday and Tuesday, the majority of the 55 detainees of the ICTR observed a hunger strike as a protest against the transfer projects to Rwanda. According to an official at the prison, they would have announced their intention to end their strike on Wednesday evening.

The ICTR, which the Security Council has requested to finish its first instance trials by the end of next year, is obligated to transfer certain cases to national courts.

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Iraqi High Tribunal

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

A Saddam Aide’s Aborted Execution
Time Magazine
By Brian Bennett and Adam Zagorin
October 12, 2007

Saddam Hussein's last defense minister was saved from the gallows last month by an unlikely savior — the United States. On the night of September 10, Sultan Hashem was five hours away from his death, his will written and the executioner ready, a senior Iraqi official told TIME. The Iraqi government had planned to carry out his death sentence at 3 a.m. on the sixth anniversary of 9/11. But Hashem, like all high-value prisoners from the former regime, was in U.S. custody. And at 10 p.m., word came that the helicopter from the U.S. prison at Camp Cropper was not coming, and the condemned man would not be handed over. Hashem's life was spared — for the moment.

The stalled execution produced a series of heated telephone calls between U.S. and Iraqi officials who had arranged the hanging. The reason given by the U.S. for failing to hand over Hashem, according to an adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, was the public disapproval of his death sentence by President Jalal Talibani and Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi. But Iraqi officials in Maliki's office suspected that Hashem was being shielded because of his key role in secret contacts with the U.S. before the invasion of Iraq — contacts that U.S. intelligence sources say led Hashem to assist the U.S. in minimizing resistance by the Iraqi Army, which largely faded away in the face of the invading Americans. Hashem's influence was over the professional army rather than the Republican Guard or other elements personally loyal to Saddam, said a former officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency in Iraq. Yet, his actions on behalf of the U.S. "saved American lives," says the same source, and perhaps the lives of quite a few Iraqi troops as well.

A former CIA officer with long experience in Iraq told TIME that turning over Hashem for execution would be a "gross miscarriage of justice." The CIA officer also confirmed longstanding reports that the U.S. had, in fact, sought to bring Hashem into a senior role in a post-invasion Iraqi government because of his identity as a Sunni, and as a "soldier's soldier" who was respected by a broad spectrum of the military.

Still, the ability of Hashem's American friends to protect him may be limited. Regardless of what assistance the former defense minister may have offered the U.S., he will eventually be turned over to the Iraqis to be hanged should the Baghdad government request it, a spokesman for U.S. commander in Iraq Gen. David Petraeus told TIME. The spokesman said the execution orders for Hashem had not yet been formally approved and added, "We will hand him over, he has been convicted by an Iraqi court —if they request it, we will hand him over." A senior Iraqi official insists that the request to hand over Hashem was made on September 10, and that the U.S. had misinterpreted Iraqi law by claiming that further approval was required. If the U.S. military does in fact hand Hashem over for execution, the move would stand in jarring contrast to guarantees of safety and security given to the Iraqi personally by Petraeus when Hashem surrendered in 2003. Hashem was one of the very few top Iraqis to surrender himself voluntarily to the United States. Petraeus, then commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, personally arranged his capitulation, guaranteeing his safety and medical treatment. "I officially request your surrender to me," Petraeus wrote in a personal letter to Hashem, noting the general's "reputation as a man of honor and integrity is known throughout this country."

Then Petraeus declared: "You have my word that you will be treated with the utmost dignity and respect, and that you will not be physically or mentally mistreated while under my custody."

Asked about these assurances, Petraeus's spokesman said the U.S. general's guarantees were no longer operative, despite the fact that Hashem is being held in a U.S. military camp under Petraeus's command. As the spokesman put it, the earlier assurances in the letter "were specifically to ask for Hashem's surrender — there was no intimation of any further guarantees while in Gen. Petraeus' custody."

Hashem had been sentenced to death for directing the brutal Anfal Campaign in the late 1980s in which thousands of Kurds were massacred by the regime, many in the notorious chemical-weapons attack on civilians at Halabjah. The sentence was upheld by an appeals court, but several Iraqi politicians, including President Jalal Talibani have spoken out against hanging Hashem. Although Talabani has consistently opposed the death penalty on principle — even in the case of Saddam Hussein — other politicians may be concerned that the execution of a respected Sunni soldier could be disruptive to national reconciliation in an Iraq deeply divided along sectarian lines.

A senior Iraqi official insisted to TIME that Hashem's execution will proceed in coming weeks, following the end of the Ramadan fast and the Eid holiday on Saturday. "It will happen," he said, contending that the Iraqi High Tribunal that tried Hashem is an independent special court that does not require a presidential signature to carry out its orders. If Hashem is hanged, it will likely be along with two other Ba'athists convicted as war criminals, notably Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali."

Execution of ‘Chemical Ali’ Delayed
AFP
October 5, 2007

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq on Thursday delayed the execution for genocide of "Chemical Ali" as a separate trial heard horrific testimony of the alleged effects of his brutal 1991 crackdown on a Shiite uprising.

Ali Hassan al-Majid, whose death sentence was upheld by the supreme court one month ago for presiding over the mass killings of Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s, should have been executed under Iraqi law by the end of Thursday.

Asked if Majid would be executed within that timeframe, a senior government official told AFP: "Absolutely not.

"The Iraqi government has not made up its mind, the prime minister has not given us the green light yet," the official said on condition of anonymity.

In the separate Shiite uprising trial, Majid and 14 co-defendants are accused of having overseen a bloodbath in which up to 100,000 people were killed by Saddam Hussein's security forces.

The slaughter came in March 1991 after Iraqi occupation troops were driven out of Kuwait by a US-led alliance in the Gulf War.

Testifying on Thursday was Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, a member of the European parliament and a former British MP between 1987 and 1997.

Nicholson said that when she travelled to Iraqi refugee camps in neighbouring Iran in August 1991, the effects of the brutal crackdown were still visible five months on.

"During my visits to the refugee camps, I saw many, many, many, people with injuries. I am not a medical professional but the injuries were caused by bullets, bombs, chemical weapons and the high impact of houses tumbling."

Asked how many cases she had seen that appeared to be from chemical attacks, she replied, "At least 30."

Nicholson provided a graphic account of what she witnessed and heard in the camps that were crammed full of almost 100,000 Iraqi refugees.

"The victims were telling me about yellow clouds that destroyed their kidneys and insides. I was told by medical experts later that that meant mustard gas."

She went on to describe what she saw at a hotel that had become a makeshift hospital to care for the wounded.

"Most of the men had been too sick to move. One had both his eyelids burnt as well as burns all over his body from napalm," she said, adding that he was a primary school teacher with no political affiliation.

"Another had his stomach dangling outside his body on the side of his bed."

Majid, Saddam's cousin and notorious hatchet man, had earlier in the trial been accused of ordering villagers to be executed in batches of 25 as he brutally crushed the Shiite rebellion.

The 66-year-old earned the grim nickname "Chemical Ali" for ordering poison gas attacks against Kurds in a brutal scorched-earth campaign of bombings and mass deportations that left an estimated 182,000 people dead.

Two co-defendants in the latest trial -- former defence minister Sultan Hashim al-Tai, and Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, former armed forces deputy chief of operations -- are also awaiting execution after being sentenced to death along with Majid for that massacre in 1988.

The government has indicated it is unwilling to carry out their executions until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in about 10 days' time and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said he is consulting lawyers.

The trial was adjourned on Thursday until October 21.

‘Chemical Ali’s’ Execution Delayed in Iraq
The Telegraph
By Damien Mcelroy
October 3, 2007

Iraq has announced it will miss today's legal deadline for executing Ali Hassan al-Majid, the cousin of Saddam Hussein who gained notoriety as "Chemical Ali," while the government seeks a stay for the holy month of Ramadan.

An appeals court last month upheld Majid's sentence of death by hanging for war crimes - including the use of chemical weapons against civilians - inflicted in a brutal 1988 crackdown on the Kurds that resulted in up to 180,000 deaths.

By law the sentence must be carried out within 30 days, a time limit which expires today.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki yesterday said his government would defer to religious sensibilities by postponing the hanging until Ramadan ends late next week.

He said: "We seek a legal path for postponement because we do not want the execution this time to be carried out during Ramadan."

But political sources in Baghdad said Majid's execution was caught up in an intense battle between Iraqi factions over the fate of former defence minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai, who was simultaneously sentenced to hang alongside Majid.

Two of Iraq's three member presidency - President Jalal Talabani and Vice-President Tareq al-Hashimi - oppose Ahmad's execution.

The position of the third member of the body, Vice-President Adel Abdul Madhi has not been disclosed.

Since it is unclear if Iraqi law gives the collective presidency the right to pardon the condemned or merely to establish the date of execution, a ruling from Iraq's highest court is being sought.

Until that ruling is delivered, the execution of Majid, who was made King of Spades in the American deck of cards of wanted figures issued after the 2003 invasion, is in legal limbo.

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Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) &
Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Offical Website of the Special Court for Sierra Leone
The Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme
Official Website of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia

Court Delays Sentencing Ex Pro-Government Militias on Warcrimes
AFP
October 2, 2007

FREETOWN (AFP) — A UN-backed war crimes tribunal will next week hand down sentences on Allieu Kondewa and Moinina Fofana, two leaders of a former pro-government militia group next week, the court said on Tuesday.
The two ex-leaders of the Civil Defence Forces (CDF), a paramilitary force which recruited traditional Kamajor hunters to fight rebel forces during the 1991-2001 conflict, have been convicted of war crimes.

Their sentencing was originally set for October 1, then shifted to October 9 to accommodate "prior commitments of international defence counsel," according to a court document.

Prosecutors have urged the court to give 30-year jail terms to the two leaders for atrocities committed during a civil war considered one of the most brutal in modern history.

Along with the government army, the CDF fought rebels from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in a war that claimed, according to UN estimates, some 120,000 lives. Thousands of survivors had their limbs and other body parts chopped off with machetes.

In a verdict handed down in August, the two men were found guilty of four counts of war crimes. They were both acquitted on charges of murder and other inhumane acts.
The two had pleaded not guilty to all eight charges levelled against them.

The international tribunal in Freetown -- created in January 2002 by a treaty between the Sierra Leone government and the UN -- is charged with prosecuting those responsible for atrocities committed during the war.

Press Release: Former CDF Militia Leaders Sentenced by Special Court
Press and Public Affairs Office Special Court for Sierral Leone
October 9, 2007

Two former leaders of Sierra Leone’s Civil Defence Forces (CDF) militia have received prison sentences following their convictions in August for war crimes committed during the country’s decade-long civil conflict.

Justice Itoe said that while both Prosecution and Defence had recommended single, “global” sentences, the Court had decided to hand down separate sentences on each count for which the two accused had been found guilty.

Moinina Fofana, who was convicted on 4 counts of the 8-count indictment, received sentences of 6 years for Count 2 (murder), 6 years for Count 4 (cruel treatment), 3 years for Count 5 (pillage), and 4 years for Count 7 (collective punishments).

Allieu Kondewa, who was convicted on 5 counts, received sentences of 8 years for Count 2 (murder), 8 years for Count 4 (cruel treatment), 5 years for Count 5 (pillage), 6 years for Count 7 (collective punishments), and 7 years for Count 8 (conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities).

Prosecutors had asked for longer terms of imprisonment, but Presiding Judge Justice Benjamin Itoe, in reading out today’s sentencing judgment, pointed to a number of mitigating factors which the Court held justified shorter sentences. These included the CDF’s efforts to restore Sierra Leone’s democratically-elected government which, the Trial Chamber noted, “contributed immensely to re-establishing the rule of law in this Country where criminality, anarchy and lawlessness...had become the order of the day”.

The Court ordered that the sentences be served concurrently, meaning that Fofana will serve a total of 6 years and Kondewa will serve an 8 year sentence. The sentences will run from 29 May 2003, the date the two were taken into custody by the Special Court.

Sierra Leone Prosecutors Consider Appealing Light Jail Sentences
Voice of America
by Howard Lesser
October 11, 2007

Prosecutors at the UN – backed Special Court for Sierra Leone say they are considering an appeal of Tuesday’s light jail sentences handed down against two pro-government Civil Defense Force (CDF) commanders. The prosecution had sought 30-year sentences against Moinina Fofana and Allieu Kondewa, who were found guilty in August of war crimes, including murder, cruel treatment, pillaging, and other criminal acts committed during the country’s 11-year civil war. Kondewa also was punished for conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 into the armed forces. But Presiding Judge Benjamin Itoe said that mitigating factors, including the CDF ‘s efforts to restore a democratically elected government, had contributed to this week’s ruling.

Attorney Elise Keppler is counsel with the International Justice Program at the watchdog group Human Rights Watch. She says the shorter sentences, which include convictions on multiple penalties, will be served concurrently, not cumulatively.

“As far as I understand it, the information from the Special Court suggests that the sentences will be served concurrently. And that means that Fofana will serve a total of six years and Kondewa will serve a total of eight years,” she said.

The court’s Chief Prosecutor Stephen Rapp said his team will consider appealing Justice Itoe’s decision over the next two weeks and objected that the sentences did not reflect the horrible nature of the defendants’ crimes. Fofana’s and Kondewa’s jail time has been back-dated to commence on May 29, 2003, the date the Special Court took the men into custody. However, Keppler says the sentencing guidelines have been shaped according to the court’s mandate to show impartiality by treating all perpetrators of heinous acts fairly and equally under the law.

“The work of the Special Court overall, from Human Rights Watch’s perspective, has made an important contribution to seeking justice for the most serious crimes committed during the Sierra Leone conflict. And by our fact-finding, the conflict was extremely brutal and involved abuses such as families being gunned down in the streets, widespread sexual abuse, child recruitment. One of the more significant aspects of the work of the Special Court is that persons associated with all of the warring factions were indicted by the court, including the Civil Defense Forces, which was associated with government forces. And that has gone a long way, from our perspective, according to local civil society groups, in demonstrating the court’s impartiality and also signals that regardless of the associations of the perpetrators, no one is above the law when it comes to these kinds of crimes, and these kinds of crimes will not be tolerated, regardless of the associations of the perpetrator,” said Keppler.

The 2-1 split guilty verdict in August exonerated Kondewa and Fofana on charges of crimes against humanity, one of the most serious offenses still facing former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is also being tried for his role in the Sierra Leone conflict. Whether or not the current sentencing will affect the conduct of the Taylor trial, Keppler says the process sets a tone for the entire country to address its turbulent past.

“The Taylor trial is expected to start up again in January. I think the whole general process of what the Special Court has been doing has a very important impact in promoting rule of law in Sierra Leone. And the process of putting these alleged perpetrators who have not been convicted, and the administration of the trials of those associated with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) is a crucial process in rebuilding Sierra Leone, bringing redress to victims, and really sending a signal that these crimes will not be tolerated,” noted Keppler.

Statement by Hon. Justice Benjamin Mutanga Itoe Calling on Citizens to Reconcile
AllAfrica.com
October 11, 2007

The following statement was read out by Justice Itoe on 9 August 2007 prior to his delivering the sentencing judgment on former CDF leaders Moinina Fofana and Allieu Kondewa.

“To the Sierra Leonean Community, my appeal is that after the finding of guilt and the sentencing today of the two Accused Persons to various terms of imprisonment, it is now, more than ever before, the time for all of you to bury the hatchet of war, to bury the hatchet of conflict, and to be reconciled with one another in the interests of peace, order and mutual existence with each other and with everyone.

“Let me say here that all those who have assumed respective roles, either as Prosecutors or Defence Counsel, were only performing their duty and no more than the duty they were hired to perform. The Prosecutors should, therefore, not be viewed or considered as enemies to the Accused Persons or to their relatives or dependants, nor should the Defence Counsel be perceived as having been unsympathetic to the victims or their relatives or even supportive of the crimes for which the Court has convicted and sentencing the two Accused Persons today.

“Having done their respective jobs, it is now time for reconciliation and forgiveness, time to forget the past. For all those who have been negatively affected by this conflict, the call to forgive the Accused Persons is directed to you. They, the Accused Persons, have openly expressed their remorse and their regrets and presented their excuses and sympathies to the families that were afflicted by the events and acts for which they have been convicted.

“For you, Mr. Moinina Fofana and Mr. Allieu Kondewa, your apologies and expression of remorse, amongst other factors, has been taken very seriously into consideration in mitigating your sentence.

“It is now for you to respect your word and engagement. It is now for you to restrain yourselves and to call on your supporters to equally restrain themselves, and to desist from any acts of revenge or recrimination against those who, in order to ensure that the facts are known for us to do justice in this Case, have testified against you in these proceedings.

“You would have broken your social pact that you signed with all Sierra Leoneans, particularly, and including those you may have been considering as your adversaries or enemies, if you do not live up to your words of regret and expression of remorse. which, as the Court has found, is sincere.

“May peace and reconciliation be the watchword for all so as to put this great and talented Country, irreversibly, on the path of peace, economic progress, and prosperity”.
In his statement, Justice Itoe thanked the people of Sierra Leone for “their legendary hospitality”.

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United States

Investigation Recommends No Murder Charge in Haditha
Reuters via Australian Broadcasting Corporation
October 5, 2007

A US Marines investigating officer has recommended that no murder charges be brought against a marine earlier accused of being the leader in a massacre of civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha, his defence attorney said.

Marine Corps staff sergeant Frank Wuterich had been accused earlier of being the ringleader of troops who killed 24 Iraqi civilians in the November 2005 incident.
"The recommendation was for lesser charges, none of which include murder," his defence attorney Mark Zaid said.

Marine Corps spokesman lieutenant colonel Sean Gibson says he cannot not comment on or confirm the recommendation, which has not been posted officially in the evidentiary case of Sgt Wuterich.

"This is a very positive step forward but it's not the last step," Mr Zaid said, noting the Marines need not accept the recommendation and may yet pursue murder charges against Sgt Wuterich.
Mr Zaid says if the Marines do not press a murder case against Sgt Wuterich, they can pursue lesser negligent homicide charges or not prosecute.

Sgt Wuterich has admitted to shooting some of the Iraqi civilians, but in a response to attacks on Marines.

U.S. Reviews Gitmo Combatant Hearings
Associate Press via Google
by Michael Melia
October 11, 2007

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — The U.S. military is reviewing its decision to classify hundreds of Guantanamo Bay inmates as "enemy combatants," a step that could lead to new hearings for men who have spent years behind bars in indefinite detention.

Navy Capt. Theodore Fessel Jr., the lead officer at Guantanamo for the Defense Department agency that oversees the panels, said authorities have begun seeking new or previously overlooked evidence that may warrant new hearings after the process came under fire.

"With all the outside eyes looking in at the process, it's forcing us to say, 'OK, did we take everything into consideration when we did the Combatant Status Review Tribunals?'" Fessel told journalists Wednesday at the naval base in southeast Cuba.

Critics called it an overdue acknowledgment that the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals are unfairly geared toward labeling detainees the enemy, even when they pose little danger. Simply redoing the tribunals won't fix the problem, they said, because the system still allows coerced evidence and denies detainees legal representation.

Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, an insider who has become one of the most prominent critics of the tribunal process, said Thursday that the development shows the system is fatally flawed.

"Ultimately, conducting new CSRTs — even discussing the possibility — repudiates every prior assertion that the original CSRTs were valid acts," Abraham told The Associated Press in an e-mail Thursday. "They are, in essence, both a hypocritical act as well as an act of moral cowardice."

Abraham, an Army reservist who was a liaison between Guantanamo tribunals and intelligence agencies and served on a combatant review panel, made headlines this summer when he told Congress and the Supreme Court that tribunal members felt pressured to find against detainees.

Last week, an Army major who sat on 49 tribunals also publicly criticized the panels, saying in an affidavit that they favored the government. Both men said that in cases where the panels declared a detainee was not an enemy combatant, commanders reconvened panels to hear more evidence, and sometimes reversed the findings without sufficient new evidence.

The military and the Bush administration have consistently defended the tribunals, established in 2004 to legitimize the detention of men they described as among the world's worst terrorists.

The military held Combatant Status Review Tribunals for 558 detainees in 2004 and 2005. Detainees were handcuffed and provided with a military "personal representative" instead of a defense attorney as they appeared in a trailer before three-officer panels. All but 38 were determined to be "enemy combatants," a classification the Bush administration has used to mean they can be held indefinitely without many of the rights afforded to conventional prisoners of war.

"The CSRTs were NOT fair," Abraham wrote in his e-mail to the AP. "They were specifically designed to reach a result and, in the few instances where a contrary result was reached, pressure was exerted to change the decision, a new tribunal was selected" or the decision was disregarded.

By reviewing the cases, Fessel said the military is recognizing that some detainees may no longer pose a threat. Citing a hypothetical example, he said a detainee who belonged to a Taliban faction that has stopped fighting may no longer be a security risk.

"It's an acknowledgment that if there is new evidence or a new thing to take into bearing, in the spirit of being an open and fair process, we have to take that into consideration," said Fessel, of the Pentagon's Office of Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.

He said he did not know how many of the roughly 330 detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of links to terrorism, al-Qaida or the Taliban might face new hearings.

Once detainees are deemed enemy combatants, they face review boards once a year that assess whether they still pose a threat or have intelligence value, and recommend whether they should be transferred, released or continue to be detained. Assistant Secretary of Defense Gordon England determined after last year's hearings that 328 men should continue to be detained and 55 should be transferred.

The commander of the detention center, Navy Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby, said Wednesday that its population will likely continue to shrink until slightly more than 200 detainees remain — "the real hard-core people that are very unrepentant, committed jihadists."

But critics said the system will remain unfair as long as the evidence is kept secret.
"Enough is enough — the military has had nearly six years to formulate, adapt and fix the proceedings at Guantanamo," said Gitanjali Gutierrez of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, whose many attempts to challenge the detentions have been blocked by the Bush administration.

Separately, the military filed an attempted murder charge against a Guantanamo detainee who allegedly threw a hand grenade into a vehicle carrying two American soldiers and an interpreter in Afghanistan in 2002, according to documents released Thursday. Mohammed Jawad has denied the accusation.

Who Will Be Punished for Haditha?
Time
by Brian Bennett
October 11, 2007

Few people will dispute the carnage that took place in the Iraqi town of Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005: Women and children were killed in their homes alongside adult males by U.S. Marines. The Marines originally said that the civilians were killed as a result of a roadside bomb. TIME first brought the incident and its contradictions to light in March 2006, beginning a series of official investigations and contributing to the loud public debate on the deployment of the U.S. military in Iraq. The trouble, however, has been with coming up with a prosecutable case against the Marines involved in the incident. The commander of the First Marine Expeditionary Force, Lt. Gen. James Mattis, is expected to decide in the next few weeks which charges, if any, to bring against three remaining Marines under investigation for the Haditha killings. The likelihood is that none of the charges will be for murder.

Mattis's decision will be based in part on the recommendations of Marine investigative lawyer Lt. Col. Paul Ware. Ware's reports have reached Mattis' desk and, according to an official familiar with the documents, all cite a concern that there is insufficient evidence to convince a jury that any of the Marines involved in the Nov. 17, 2005, shootings had committed murder. According to the reports, the evidence may not support a criminal intent to kill that is the burden of proof for a murder charge.

In the case of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who was supervising the squad that killed two dozen civilians that day, Ware recommended that Wuterich be charged with negligent homicide. That charge would allege that the 27-year-old enlisted Marine wrongfully killed civilians as a result of recklessness. Even this lesser charge, noted Ware, would be difficult to prove to a jury given the lack of evidence in the case.

Prosecutors in the Haditha case have struggled to collect evidence. Ware outlined concerns with the available evidence in a previous Haditha report made public in July recommending charges against Lance Cpl. Justin Sharratt be dismissed. Sharratt was a member of Wuterich's squad the day of the killings. Ware noted that the families of the victims refused to allow the bodies to be exhumed for autopsies. Furthermore, wrote Ware, Iraqi witnesses had a motive to fabricate their stories because Marine units had paid out cash to other families of those killed. "Witness accounts are not credible," wrote Ware. "The Iraqis' first statements to NCIS [Naval Criminal Investigative Service] were taken in a group setting, five months after the events occurred and with knowledge that other families in Haditha had received monetary compensation from the United States for events that occurred on 19 November 2005."

But Ware's concerns in the past have gone beyond issues of evidence. He also expressed concern with the impact a harsh sentence might have on the morale of Marines. "Even more dangerous is the potential that a Marine may hesitate at the critical moment when facing the enemy," wrote Ware in the Sharratt report. After weighing all the evidence available, Ware ultimately concluded that Sharratt had acted according to his training: "Whether this was a brave act of combat against the enemy or tragedy of misperception born out of conducting combat with an enemy that hides among innocents, LCpl Sharratt's actions were in accord with the rules of engagement and use of force."

So far Mattis's rulings have been favorable to the Marines. On August 9, Mattis decided not to bring charges against Sharratt. The general also dismissed dereliction of duty charges brought against Capt. Lucas McConnell, the company commander who oversaw Wuterich's squad and did not initially investigate the incident. Mattis said that "administrative measures are the appropriate response," limiting McConnell's punishment to a reprimand by his superiors rather than a trial in a criminal proceeding.

Mattis will decide in the next few weeks whether to move forward with the 17 counts of murder brought against Wuterich. It is unlikely, given the evidence, that Wuterich will be convicted of anything other than dereliction of duty, said the report. Mattis will make a similar decision on charges facing Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum, a member of Wuterich's squad. Mattis will also decide whether to move forward with charges against batallion commander Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. The investigating officer has recommended that Chessani face court-martial for dereliction of duty and other charges.

Public reprimands were handed to three senior officers in the chain of command on Nov. 19, 2005. Major Gen. Richard Huck, Col. Stephen Davis and Col. Robert Sokolosk were all handed letters of censure for failing to carry out their duties in sufficiently investigating the killings. The last remaining hearing in the case, scheduled for later this month, will be for intelligence officer 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson, who was first tasked with looking into what happened on that day.

Charges Filed Against Guantanamo Inmate
The Los Angeles Times
by Carol J. Williams
October 12, 2007

GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA -- Attempted murder charges were filed this week against a 22-year-old Afghan imprisoned here for nearly five years, accusing him of trying to kill a U.S. soldier by lobbing a grenade into his car, the Pentagon announced Thursday.

The indictment of Mohammed Jawad was the fourth brought against the 330 or so prisoners at the U.S. detention center since the Supreme Court quashed the Bush administration's war-crimes tribunal process last year and Congress replaced it with the 2006 Military Commissions Act.

Jawad wasn't previously identified as one of the terrorism suspects whose cases soon would be brought before the commissions.

The three others indicted this year were among 10 Guantanamo detainees charged with war crimes and brought before the Bush tribunals prior to the high court's ruling against the process.

The Afghan, who was 17 at the time of his capture, is accused of attempted murder and intentionally causing serious bodily harm in the Dec. 17, 2002, grenade attack on a car carrying Sgts. 1st Class Michael Lyons and Christopher Martin and an Afghan interpreter near Kabul.

Jawad is accused only of trying to hurt Martin, not kill him, for reasons that weren't clear in the two-page charge sheet drafted by the Office of Military Commissions in Washington.

A separate case, the war-crimes trial of Canadian Omar Khadr, who is charged with murder in a July 2002 grenade attack against a U.S. soldier, is set to open Nov. 8.

A commissions judge must first clear a technical impediment, which prompted a June ruling that the tribunals lack jurisdiction to try Khadr or any other Guantanamo detainee.

None of the prisoners were deemed "unlawful enemy combatants" during their initial screening by Combatant Status Review Tribunals, and only those determined to have been fighting unlawfully are subject to commissions prosecution.

A hastily assembled Court of Military Commission Review overturned that ruling last month and said the judge hearing Khadr's case could make the "unlawful" designation himself.

In Jawad's indictment, prosecutors clearly labeled him an "alien unlawful enemy combatant." He must be arraigned within 30 days of the charges being served, and his trial must begin within 120 days.

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UN Reports

Countries Must Enforce Indictments of War Crimes Court, Liechtenstein Tells UN
UN News Service
October 1, 2007

Rita Kieber-Beck called on the UN and all Member States to cooperate with the ICC to ensure that the arrests are made and the indictees are brought to The Hague in the Netherlands, where the Court is based, for trial.

So far the ICC has issued arrest warrants for two suspects accused of war crimes in Darfur and five leaders of the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda, but none have been arrested.

The Darfur indictees are Ahmed Muhammad Harun, currently the Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs, and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb. The LRA indictees are the leader Joseph Kony, and commanders Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen and Raska Lukwiya.

Thomas Lubanga, a rebel militia leader in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was arrested last year, while the Prosecutor’s Office has begun to probe of allegations of killings and rapes in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Ms. Kieber-Beck said the Security Council’s decision to refer the situation in Darfur – where more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2.2 million others forced to flee their homes since 2003 – “was a landmark decision, both legally and politically.

“It was a strong message by the Security Council that the international community does not accept impunity for the most serious crimes under international law.”

But the Foreign Minister stressed that this message needs to be backed by enforcement action on the suspects who remain at large.

Audit of UN-Backed Cambodian Tribunal Shows Recruitment Irregularities
UN News Service
October 2, 2007

The United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia set up to try Khmer Rouge leaders accused of mass killings and other horrific crimes during the late 1970s has made public special audits commissioned by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) showing irregularities in recruitment.

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) yesterday released on its website the findings of the audits of the Cambodian side of the tribunal, together with its responses, “in the interests of transparency and fairness,” said UN spokesperson Michele Montas.

The report found that some national staff recruited did not meet the minimum requirements specified in the vacancy announcements and that recruitment was not always performed in a transparent, competitive and objective manner, she added.

The Phnom Penh-based tribunal was set up – under an agreement signed by the UN and Cambodia – as an independent court using a mixture of Cambodian staff and judges and foreign personnel. It is designated to try those deemed most responsible for crimes and serious violations of Cambodian and international law between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979.

UN Exerts Diplomatic Pressure on Burma
The Toronto Star
by Olivia Ward
October 3, 2007

While Burma's battered protesters counted their dead, a United Nations special envoy met with the ruling junta's top general, Than Shwe, and imprisoned pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, before flying back to New York to report to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The four-day round of diplomacy, aimed at halting an increasingly bloody crackdown on Buddhist monks and their anti-government supporters, was also meant to deliver a tough message to the isolated generals from the international community.

Envoy Ibrahim Gambari was able to meet twice with imprisoned democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, raising hope that the worldwide anger at the junta's violent actions had penetrated the tightly-closed clique.

Gambari will report to Ban on his trip by the end of the week, and is expected to also brief the UN Security Council.

But any action taken by the council would have to win the support of Burma's allies, China and Russia, who have so far resisted strong measures.

Meanwhile, in Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council passed an unusual motion condemning the "continued violent repression of peaceful demonstrations" and urging the junta to "exercise utmost restraint" and refrain from further attacks.

It called for immediate release of all those detained in the recent protests, as well as Burma's thousands of political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, who has spent 12 of the last 18 years under house arrest.

In New York yesterday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier told the UN General Assembly: "In Burma it is imperative to restore democracy and human rights."

He said promoting rights is not enough: "They must be protected and defended, particularly when they are under assault – in Afghanistan, in Burma, in Sudan, in Iran and elsewhere."

Gambari's trip to Burma, also known as Myanmar, began in low gear and it appeared he might be denied visits with the country's key players. But as the demonstrations in major cities were brutally suppressed, the generals allowed him the access he requested.

He was able to fly from the junta's obscure fortified capital, Nyapyitaw, to the main city Rangoon, where earlier in the week soldiers fired into crowds of demonstrators, raided monasteries, and reportedly arrested hundreds of monks.

There were chilling, but unconfirmed, reports of monasteries sealed off by the security forces and the monks tortured, beaten to death, and their bodies removed, leaving splashes of blood on the floor and walls.

An unnamed Burmese official told Agence France-Press that up to 1,700 people had been detained at the Government Technical Institute, including about 200 women and at least one child.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said that at least 30 people have been killed and some 1,400 arrested.

Some reports suggested that corpses were quickly cremated to avoid evidence-gathering for a prospective war-crimes trial – something justice advocates have urged.

Meanwhile, the streets of Rangoon were quiet, with armed soldiers still deployed at the main protest points, and nervous city dwellers darting to shops and workplaces as hastily as possible.

"Gambari's visit is a positive development, but let's wait and see what he reports," said Brian John, an Amnesty International co-ordinator for Burma, adding the human rights organization is calling for a more powerfully backed mission from the UN Security Council.

"We want a mission to be there on the ground investigating what has gone on in the past two weeks. It must investigate the charges that have been made and report on the arrests, killings, the whole range of violations. That would be more useful than a meeting with the generals."

Registrar at UN War Crimes Tribunal Sounds Alarm Over Health of Genocide Suspect
UN News Service
October 5, 2007

A Bosnian Serb former army officer who is facing genocide and other war crimes charges over his role in the 1995 massacre of more than 7,000 Muslims at Srebrenica is refusing medical treatment, putting his life in danger, the Registrar of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) warned today.

Hans Holthuis filed a submission to the Tribunal’s trial chamber calling on judges “to take all appropriate measures” to assess the health of Zdravko Tolimir, 58, and determine whether he is still capable of representing himself.

Mr. Tolimir, who served as Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Security of the Main Staff of the Bosnian Serb army and reported directly to the notorious chief Ratko Mladic, who remains at large, has been indicted on charges of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, extermination, murder, persecutions, forcible transfer and deportation.

Prosecutors allege that Mr. Tolimir has responsibility for the murder of thousands of Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in July 1995, when the town was supposed to be a UN-protected area. The indictment also accuses him of making life unbearable for the civilian residents of Srebrenica and Žepa and forcing them to leave the protected areas.

Mr. Tolimir was involved in the murder of Bosnian Muslim prisoners being held in temporary locations around eastern Bosnia in 1995, the indictment states, including the summary execution of more than 1,700 men and boys by an army detachment at the Branjevo Military Farm and the Pilica Cultural Centre.

Mr. Holthuis said today that the ICTY registry had assessed Mr. Tolimir’s health to be “grave, fragile and highly alarming,” exacerbated by his refusal to cooperate with physicians, accept medical treatment or take prescribed medicines since being transferred to the Tribunal’s custody in June.

Mr. Tolimir had been on the run for two years before he was detained by authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 31 May.

He has a “significant aneurism in his brain,” Mr. Holthuis said in the submission, describing it as “an inoperable, high-risk condition which can be controlled to some extent by appropriate medications aimed at keeping the Accused’s blood pressure low.”

Mr. Tolimir also suffers from a serious heart condition, has indications of long-term high blood pressure, previously experienced heart attacks and arteriosclerosis, and “may have suffered from a small number of minor strokes.”

“There is a very real and serious risk of the Accused experiencing a life-threatening episode at any time and without warning,” Mr. Holthuis said, adding that the situation has been complicated by Mr. Tolimir’s stated plan to represent himself during the trial.

“The stresses involved in running a trial are certain to have a detrimental impact on the Accused’s medical situation,” Mr. Holthuis said.

He noted that Mr. Tolimir has given various reasons for his refusal of medical care, ranging from religious belief to an assertion that he is in good health.

UN's ex-Yugoslavia Tribunal Says Four Remaining Fugitives Must be Arrested
UN News Service
October 8, 2007

Four fugitives remain at large from the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the failure to arrest them “continues to represent an affront to justice,” the court says today.

In its fourteenth annual report to the General Assembly and the Security Council, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) states that by 31 July this year it had finished proceedings against 106 accused out of the 161 people who have been charged with crimes related to the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

The proceedings of another 51 people are either at the pre-trial, trial, pre-appeal or appeal phase.

ICTY said its three trial chambers are operating at full capacity, running seven trials simultaneously since January, while the appeals chamber has also expedited its workload.

Two arrests have also been made since August 2006: those of Zdravko Tolimir, a former Bosnian Serb army officer and top aide to General Ratko Mladić, and Vlastimir Ðorðević, a senior Serbian police officer accused of participating in the campaign against Kosovo Albanians in 1999.

But the report noted that four fugitives remain: Mr. Mladić, Radovan Karadžić, Goran Hadžić and Stojan Župljanin.

Mr. Karadžić, 62, the former Bosnian Serb president, and Mr. Mladić, 65, the former military chief, each face numerous charges, including genocide, extermination, murder, persecutions, deportation, taking of hostages and inflicting terror on civilians.

Mr. Hadžić, 49, is charged with murder, persecutions, torture, cruel treatment and other war crimes and crimes against humanity related to his role as president of a self-proclaimed breakaway state of rebel Serbs in southern Croatia during the early 1990s.

Mr. Župljanin, 56, has been indicted on many counts, including murder, torture, forcible transfers and the wanton destruction of towns and villages. He served in the senior leadership in the Autonomous Region of Krajina, part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an area that became notorious for its treatment of non-Serbs.

The report says the Prosecutor’s Office has concentrated its efforts on securing the arrest of the four men, and the failure to achieve those arrests “remains of grave concern with respect to the proper administration of justice.”

But it also notes that the Prosecutor’s Office has been able to step up its cooperation with the governments of the countries in the region, and has observed an improvement in support from the Republika Srpska, which is part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Under the Tribunal’s completion strategy, ICTY is supposed to complete all trials at first instance by the end of 2008, and all of its work, including appeals, by 2010.

UN War Crimes Tribunal Launch Study of How To Manage Archives
UN News Service
October 9, 2007

The United Nations war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia today began a study into how best to manage their enormous archives and ensure they are accessible to all who need to use them.

An expert committee led by Justice Richard Goldstone, a former prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), will investigate a series of questions, including whether to set up a joint archive for the tribunals, two separate archives or multiple archives.

The committee will also look at appropriate locations for the archives, their security and preservation, and how best to ensure that they are accessible to all, from the peoples of Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia to the UN to the wider international community.

Justice Goldstone said “the work of the independent committee is crucial for the preservation of the legacy of the two tribunals and for the victims, as well as for the future for international criminal justice.”

The archives are expected to be extremely large, with the Office of the Prosecutor of each tribunal already having several million pages of evidence, while the registries of the courts also hold tens of thousands of hours of videotaped courtroom proceedings.

Under the completion strategy that the tribunals reached with the Security Council, they are aiming to complete all trials at first instance by the end of next year and all appeals by the end of 2010.

To be based in The Hague, the headquarters of the ICTY, the expert committee is expected to consult with governments, civil society and relevant non-governmental organizations (NGOs) during the course of its work, while a dedicated team will focus on the archives of each of the two tribunals. The first interim report is due to be submitted to the tribunals’ registrars, who commissioned the study, early next year.

Two Former Militia Leaders Jailed by UN-Backed Tribunal In Sierra Leone
UN News Service
October 9, 2007

The United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) today sentenced two former leaders of a pro-Government militia to jail over war crimes they committed during the country’s prolonged civil war in the 1990s.

Moinina Fofana, who was convicted on 2 August on charges of murder, cruel treatment, pillage and collective punishments, was given a six-year prison term by the SCSL, which sits in the capital, Freetown.

Allieu Kondewa, who was convicted on the same charges and also on a count of recruiting child combatants, received an eight-year sentence.

At the trials, prosecutors said Mr. Fofana served as National Director of War for the Civil Defence Forces (CDF) while Mr. Kondewa acted as the militia’s “High Priest.” The case against a third accused CDF leader, Sam Hinga Norman, ended after he died in February.

During Sierra Leone’s civil war the CDF, comprised of various tribally-based traditional hunters, supported the Government against rebel groups, including the Revolutionary United Front and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).

Prosecutors had asked for longer terms of imprisonment for Mr. Fofana and Mr. Kondewa but Justice Benjamin Itoe, the presiding judge, said today that several mitigating factors meant shorter terms were warranted.

These included the efforts of the CDF to restore the democratically elected government of Sierra Leone, which the court said had contributing to re-establishing the rule of law in the West African nation.

The SCSL is mandated to try those bearing the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian and Sierra Leonean law within the country’s borders since 30 November 1996. It is the second international war crimes tribunal established in Africa.

Bai Ki-moon Unveils Judicial Selection Panel for Hariri Tribunal in Lebanon
UN News Service
October 11, 2007

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the composition of a selection panel to recommend to him the names of judges and chief prosecutor to work on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is being set up to prosecute the suspected killers of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005.

Mr. Ban sent a letter to the Security Council President informing him of his intention to appoint Judge Mohamed Amin El Mahdi, Judge Erik Møse and Nicolas Michel to the selection panel, according to a statement released by the Secretary-General’s spokesperson.

Judge El Mahdi formerly served on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Judge Møse currently serves as a presiding judge with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Mr. Michel is the UN Legal Counsel and Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs.

Today’s statement stressed that Mr. Ban remained committed to setting up the Tribunal in a timely manner and that he continues to believe the court “will contribute to ending impunity in Lebanon for the crimes under its jurisdiction.”

The Tribunal is being set up to deal with the assassination of Mr. Hariri, who was killed along with 22 others in a massive car bombing in downtown Beirut in February 2005.

Once it is formally established, it will be up to the court to determine whether other political killings in Lebanon since October 2004 were connected to the assassination of Mr. Hariri and could therefore be dealt with by the Tribunal.

The selection panel is tasked with recommending to Mr. Ban the names of the four Lebanese judges and seven international judges who should serve on the court, as well as its chief prosecutor.

According to the Tribunal’s statute, the chambers will consist of one international pre-trial judge; three judges to serve in the trial chamber (one Lebanese and two international); five judges to serve in the appeals chamber (two Lebanese and three international); and two alternate judges (one Lebanese and one international).

The judges of the trial chamber and those of the appeals chamber will then each elect a presiding judge to conduct the proceedings in their chamber, with the presiding judge of the appeals chamber serving as president of the Tribunal.

U.N. Suggests Prosecution of Contractors
The Washington Times
by Betsy Pisik
October 12, 2007

A senior U.N. human rights official in Baghdad suggested yesterday that private military contractors should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity after recent melees in which guards attached to the State Department used lethal fire against Iraqis.

Private security firms are coming under increased scrutiny in Iraq and in Afghanistan, where Afghan and foreign contractors have been accused of flouting the law, intimidating citizens and refusing to cooperate with authorities.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that Afghan authorities have shut down two private firms and are considering similar actions against another dozen, both local and foreign.

The Iraqi government has demanded millions of dollars in compensation for the victims of a Sept. 16 attack in Baghdad, which Blackwater claims was defensive.

The private contractors cannot be charged in Iraq, and it is not clear whether they are subject to U.S. laws. However, U.N. human rights officer Ivana Vuco said they should be subject to international humanitarian laws.

"Investigations as to whether or not crimes against humanity, war crimes, are being committed, and obviously the consequences of that, is something that we will be paying attention to and advocating for," she said at the release of a quarterly report on human rights compiled by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq.

"We will be stressing that in our communications with U.S. authorities. This includes the responsibility to investigate, to supervise and prosecute those accused of wrongdoing," Miss Vuco told reporters.

The report notes "killings carried out by privately hired contractors with security-related functions in support of U.S. government authorities," as well as the presence of honor killings and sectarian violence.

The quarterly report finds 88 Iraqis killed by U.S. air strikes between April 1 and June 30, although wider statistics on injuries and deaths during the period are no longer available from the Iraqi government.

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights seized on those findings yesterday in filing a lawsuit against Blackwater in U.S. District Court in Washington, demanding unspecified damages on behalf of the families of three casualties of the Nisoor Square debacle, and one surviving victim.

As many as 17 persons were killed in the Sept. 16 shooting, which has sparked competing investigations by the Iraqi government, the State Department, the FBI and Blackwater.

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NGO Reports

Sudan: Peacekeeper Killings are War Crimes
Human Rights Watch
October 1, 2007

Government and Rebels Should Aid Investigations

(New York, October 1, 2007) – The killing of 10 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur is a war crime and should be promptly investigated by the United Nations and the African Union, Human Rights Watch said today.

On September 30, unidentified forces attacked an African Union base in Haskanita, South Darfur, killing 10 AU peacekeepers and civilian police. At least 8 other personnel from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) were seriously injured and approximately 40 remain missing, according to AU statements. Unconfirmed reports say the attack was carried out by unidentified rebel forces. The loss of life was the worst suffered to date by the under-resourced AU force.

“Deliberately attacking peacekeepers is a war crime,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The Sudanese government and the rebel groups should cooperate fully with an independent investigation into the dreadful attack in Haskanita.”

Customary laws of war and the statute of the International Criminal Court prohibit directing attacks against personnel and objects involved in international peacekeeping missions, so long as they are not directly involved in hostilities.

The AMIS force in Darfur comprises approximately 7,000 troops and civilian police. For now, it is virtually the only force on the ground in Darfur providing civilian protection. A 26,000-member AU-UN hybrid operation, UNAMID, was authorized in July 2007 and is to be deployed in early January 2008.

AMIS’s mission has been to monitor the Darfur Peace Agreement and several other ceasefire agreements. Its peacekeepers patrol a harsh, desert region the size of France, much of it barely accessible by road.

Attacks on AMIS personnel have increased in the past year. Since the force was deployed in 2004, more than 25 soldiers and staff have been killed and dozens injured. On April 17, 2007, unknown armed assailants killed five AMIS soldiers guarding a water point in Um Baru, North Darfur. A Nigerian commander who was kidnapped outside the AMIS compound in Al Fashir has been missing since December 2006.

The attack on Sunday took place as preparations are underway for the deployment of UNAMID and a new round of peace talks in Tripoli, Libya, on October 27.

Paramilitary Demobilization in Colombia: On the road to the International Criminal Court
International Federation for Human Rights
October 4, 2007

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) published its report on the application of the Justice and Peace Act in Colombia. The report is the result of more than two years of work in conjunction with FIDH leagues in Colombia: the “José Alvear Restrepo” lawyers’ collective, ILSA, and the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights. It is also based on observation of the Justice and Peace hearings held from May to July 2007 at the Justice and Peace Tribunals in Bogotá, Medellín, and Barranquilla.

The Justice and Peace Act is in line with a broader legal framework that, according to the authorities, seeks to demobilize the paramilitary forces responsible for crimes against humanity, other serious violations of human rights, and war crimes.

Since they first appeared, the paramilitary structures have committed an average of 60,000 crimes against humanity and serious human rights violations. This figure does not include the more than one million persons displaced as a direct result of the strategy of terror, threats, and paramilitary action. Colombia ranks second in the world in terms of the number of forced displacements. In 2006, more than 219,000 people were displaced, and the number of registered families tops 380,000 [According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 45,000 persons were displaced in 2005 and 67,000 in 2006. The figure is expected to near 72,000 in 2007 and to continue rising despite the supposed demobilization of the paramilitary groups, which continue to operate in different areas of Colombia.
].

From January to June 2007 alone, more than 770 civilians were murdered in Colombia or fell victim to forced disappearance. More than 80 mass graves have been discovered; in late 2006 the Office of the Prosecutor estimated that there were still more than 3,000 persons remaining to be found. It is believed, however, that this figure falls far short of reflecting the more than 30,000 forced disappearances that have been reported.

FIDH has submitted several communications to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requesting that those guilty of serious crimes within its jurisdiction be investigated and tried. >From the outset, FIDH has warned that the Uribe Vélez administration should withdraw its declaration under Article 124 of the Rome Statute that it does not accept ICC jurisdiction over war crimes committed by all armed groups in Colombia.

To date, 92% of the 30,000 demobilized paramilitaries have benefited from a de facto amnesty declared by decree. Only 8% come under the Justice and Peace Act, which has been implemented by decrees that do not respect the Constitutional Court’s ruling that the act should be amended to avoid violating the victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparations. The paramilitaries who do fall under the Justice and Peace Act are tried at so-called “free version” hearings and may be sentenced to no more than eight years of imprisonment, which they may serve in “work farms.” They may even impose their own conditions for “imprisonment,” which flies in the face of the most basic principles of justice in view of the seriousness of the crimes committed.

This report reveals the lack of true willingness on the part of the government to bring to trial and dismantle the paramilitary groups. It concludes that the International Criminal Court should also act to investigate and try those guilty of crimes against humanity committed in Colombia since November 1, 2002.

The “free version” hearings have, indeed, become a forum for justifying crimes and paramilitarism. The paramilitaries are not forced to confess to their crimes, disclose the truth about who supported their structures, or even show repentance for their crimes. They have not been forced to turn in all of their weapons or hand over their assets to compensate the victims, while the latter and their representatives have very limited access to hearings and are hindered from participating in them.

What is more, those victims who have attended the “free version” hearings have not received adequate protection. Already, sixteen of them have been murdered with absolute impunity.

FIDH also calls on the U.S. and European authorities to make their trade agreements conditional on respect for human rights in Colombia, and on the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC to open an investigation without further delay. Doing so could have a significant preventive effect.

FIDH concludes that this process has been set up for the purpose of removing the high paramilitary commands from the jurisdiction of the ICC. FIDH urges the Colombian administration to repeal the legal framework of the Justice and Peace Act or issue a legal framework that complies with international standards.

The report is available in spanish

International Humanitarian Law and Private Military/Security Companies
International Committee of the Red Cross
October 9, 2007

Private military and security companies working in armed conflict situations are also obliged to respect the provisions of IHL. Basic facts on the issue and links to expert opinion.

What is international humanitarian law?
The body of international law applicable in times of armed conflict that:

• protects persons not or no longer taking a direct part in hostilities; and
• regulates permissible means and methods of warfare.

Who is bound by international humanitarian law?
Everyone in situations of armed conflict: states, organised armed groups, multinational forces, civilians and the staff of private military/security companies ("PMCs/PSCs").

What is the status of the staff of PMCs/PSCs under international humanitarian law?
Unless they are part of the armed forces of a state, the staff of PMCs/PSCs are civilians. Accordingly:

• they may not be targeted;
• they may not take a direct part in hostilities.

If, however, the staff of PMCs/PSCs carry out acts that amount to taking a direct part in hostilities:

• they lose protection from attack during such participation;
• if captured they are not entitled to prisoner of war status and can be tried for mere participation in hostilities even if they have not committed any violations of international humanitarian law.

What steps can PMCs/PSCs take to ensure their staff respect international humanitarian law?
If they are operating in situations of armed conflict the staff of PMCs/PSCs must respect international humanitarian law and face criminal responsibility for any violations they may commit. This holds true whether they are hired by states, international organisations or by private companies.

Different measures both before and during a deployment are essential to ensuring that the staff of PMCs/PSCs respect international humanitarian law. These can include:

• vetting procedures for the hiring of staff;
• proper training in international humanitarian law;
• standard operating procedures and rules of engagement that comply with international humanitarian law;
• internal disciplinary procedures.

What is the responsibility of states in respect of PMCs/PSCs they hire?
States cannot absolve themselves of their obligations under international humanitarian law by contracting PMCs/PSCs. They remain responsible for ensuring the relevant standards are met.

Should the staff of the PMCs/PSCs commit violations of international humanitarian law, the state that has hired them may be responsible if the violations can be attributed to it, in addition to the company and its staff.

States must ensure that the staff of such companies respects international humanitarian law. Important measures for achieving this include:

requiring the staff to be properly trained in international humanitarian law;
requiring that the PMCs/PSCs' rules of engagement and standard operating procedures comply with international humanitarian law.

Moreover, states must ensure that mechanisms exist for holding accountable the staff of PMCs/PSCs suspected of violating international humanitarian law and, possibly, the PMCs/PSCs themselves in civil proceedings.

What is the responsibility of states in whose territory PMCs/PSCs are incorporated or operate?

All states have a responsibility to respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law, including by the staff of PMCs/PSCs. States in whose territory PMCs/PSCs are incorporated or operate are in a particularly favourable position to affect their behaviour.One way for the state of incorporation or operation to exercise some control and oversight could be by establishing a licensing/regulatory system. Key elements of a possible national regulatory framework could include:

• a prohibition of certain activities (e.g. direct participation in hostilities unless incorporated in the armed forces);
• a requirement that PMCs/PSCs obtain operating licences based on meeting certain criteria, including requirements that the PMCs/PSCs:
• train their staff in IHL;
• adopt standard operating procedures/rules of engagement that respect IHL;
• adopt appropriate disciplinary measures;
• a requirement for authorisation for every contract depending on the nature of the proposed activities and the situation in country where will operate; and sanctions for operating without having obtained the necessary authorisations or in violation thereof (e.g. withdrawal of operating licence, loss of bond, criminal sanctions…).

Such a regulatory system should be complemented by a functioning system for bringing to justice those accused of having committed violations of international humanitarian law.

Sudan: New Clashes Jeopardize Civilians
Human Rights Watch
October 10, 2007

Escalating Violence Highlights Need for Civilian Protection

(New York, October 10, 2007) – Civilians in Darfur are bearing the brunt of escalating fighting between the Government of Sudan and rebel factions, Human Rights Watch said today. The organization called on both the Government of Sudan and rebel factions to cease attacks on civilians and ensure they are protected.

Thousands of civilians were displaced following recent attacks between October 4-8 on the towns of Haskanita and Muhajaria, weeks before the warring parties are scheduled to meet in Tripoli for a new round of peace talks.

“This is not the first time we’ve seen the warring parties talking about peace while launching new attacks on civilians,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The lack of concern for the civilian population is appalling.”

On September 29, 2007, rebel forces killed 10 African Union peacekeepers in Haskanita, in North Darfur. Government forces quickly took control of the area, and on October 4, the entire town was burned to the ground and at least 10 civilians were killed.

Four days later, the town of Muhajariya, 120 kilometers to the west of Haskanita, was attacked, reportedly by pro-government militia backed by heavy weaponry. According to press reports, more than 20 civilians were wounded in the attack, but unconfirmed estimates put the number significantly higher. Thousands of others have been forced to flee the area.

There are credible reports that Sudanese aircraft were seen in the area. The Sudanese government, which has denied deploying aircraft to support the attack, has repeatedly violated its own commitment to cease “offensive overflights” in Darfur.

Muhajariya is a stronghold of the former rebel faction leader Minni Minawi, the main rebel signatory to the May 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement, who is now nominally part of the Government of Sudan. The government, Minni Minnawi’s SLA faction, and many other rebel factions have publicly committed to attending peace talks in Libya on October 27.

These latest clashes seem to be part of an ongoing trend. In a September 2007 report, “Darfur 2007: Chaos by Design,” Human Rights Watch describes how the situation in Darfur has evolved in the last year from a relatively straightforward conflict between rebels and the government into a violent scramble for power and resources involving government forces, Janjaweed militia, rebels and former rebels, and bandits, with civilians, peacekeepers, and humanitarian aid workers caught in the crossfire.

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