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)

Tribunal Prosecutors to Host Seminar
VOA Khmer
By Sok Khemara
October 30, 2007

Tribunal prosecutors Chea Leang and Robert Petit will host a seminar in November with other international war crimes prosecutors, to discuss issues likely to come up as trials of Khmer Rouge leaders’ progress.

The seminar will gather international legal experts from the UN and the Hague and tribunals from Rwanda and Sierra Leone.

"The prosecutors will use this colloquium to continue to ensure that those responsible for violating the most fundamental rights of humankind are brought to justice, regardless of when and where the atrocities occurred," a tribunal statement said.

The discussion will provide greater understanding of issues that will face tribunal prosecutors, said Long Panhavuth, a program officer at the Open Society Justice Initiative, an independent organization aiding the tribunal.

The seminar would provide "the opportunity to learn more regarding the progress or problems faced by the international criminal court," he told VOA Khmer Tuesday.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said the seminar would help the state of law and the judicial system in Cambodia, through "sharing experiences with each other, among national and international prosecutors."

Khmer Rouge tribunal prosecutors are so far facing cases for Kaing Khek Iev, alias Duch, and chief ideologue of the regime, Nuon Chea, whose lawyers said Tuesday they plan to issue a petition for his release ahead of trial.

Why the Khmer Rouge Tribunal Matters to the Cambodian Community:
Justice for the Future, Not the Victims
Cambodia Tribunal.org
By Youk Chhang
November 1, 2007

My family was evacuated to the countryside during Democratic Kampuchea. One day, the Khmer Rouge caught my brother-in-law stealing rice from the commune kitchen and beat him to death. His wife (my sister) developed a stomach ache later that night and was taken to a Khmer Rouge hospital. There, they told her she was sick because she had eaten that stolen rice, and cut her stomach open to prove it. She also died.

Thirty years later, our family is divided over whether putting the Khmer Rouge on trial would bring them justice for my sister’s death. After the regime, the chief of a village where some of my family members disappeared pedaled his bicycle to Phnom Penh to apologize to our family, bringing us bananas and meat as a sort of restitution. No one else in the family would accept his apology, but my mother said it was enough. Her attitude is a very Buddhist one, and his act put her heart to rest. She never wanted me to return to Cambodia and work toward a legal accounting for the crimes committed during Democratic Kampuchea, and never understood why I didn’t remain in the United States. Over time, my mother has come to believe the tribunal is a good thing, but feels it will only be effective with the support of the international community.

My niece Theavy takes another view. She was only five or six years old when her parents died and has lived most of her life in the United States. She once wrote me saying, “I don’t believe that justice is enough for what had happened to my family. No justice in the world will bring my family back.” She has never wanted to return or even visit surviving family members in Cambodia, believing that the reality of Cambodia today would be just an illusion to her.

I take a different view: that the tribunal is important and that we need prosecution before we can ever reach the point of true forgiveness. Justice has already been obtained to some degree: it was meted out at the local level in the 1980s, when people took the law into their own hands and killed many of the worst Khmer Rouge perpetrators. For this reason, I feel that the trials -- if they are successful – will not so much bring justice to the victims as give people a perception that justice is possible for the future.
The larger Cambodian family, both at home and abroad, is also divided over the trials. This is because genocide has always been a political act, and always will be. After 30 years, people have largely moved beyond the need for personal revenge. They are concerned about how the trials will affect their futures and the future of their country, but they view justice from very different political perspectives.

The Survivors in Cambodia

There are two camps in this group. The first is survivors who support the tribunal. Most of them have never been out of the country and have decided that at least some of their future lies with the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP), who they see as liberating Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge and in the 1990s fighting to bring the guerillas to heel when the international community was ignoring Cambodia. As evidence of their party’s intent to broker honest trials, they point to the ranking CPP government officials who are former Khmer Rouge and have publicly stated their willingness to appear before the tribunal.

They also note the United Nations’ inability to bring the Khmer Rouge to the ballot box in the 1992-1993 national elections, thereby failing to institute rule of law in Cambodia. This group distrusts the international community, and finds the UN at least partly at fault for the country’s culture of impunity.

The second camp contains many people who returned from the Thai border camps in the 1990s. They are generally opposed to the government, and believe that national problems like poverty and corruption are linked directly to the CPP. They feel the trials will only serve to polish the ruling party’s image. So, they are calling for more international control of the proceedings and would like to see certain CPP officials brought to trial, hoping to drag the current government into the fray.

Cambodian Expatriates

This highly politicized group is also divided. One camp supports the government and is very vocal in its support of the tribunal. Some of them have returned to Cambodia and become engaged in tribunal issues, hoping to improve their economic opportunities by gaining the favor of the ruling party.

Three other groups oppose the trials. The first comprises the supporters of former King Sihanouk, who worry that he might be brought before the chambers (there are such supporters among those who are still living in Cambodia as well). Like the king, they argue that the money dedicated to the trials would be better spent on alleviating poverty in Cambodia. The second is made up of people opposed to the CPP for political reasons; some were able to obtain visas to third countries after the fall of Democratic Kampuchea by adopting a strong anti-communist stance, which they retain to this day (during the 1980s the CPP was closely associated with the ruling Vietnamese communist party). And the last is a small group of immigrants who were Khmer Rouge; they are simply afraid their former lives might be revealed.

The Next Generation

While they are not politicized, the children of Democratic Kampuchea’s survivors are a burgeoning part of the population, and their beliefs and expectations must be taken into account. This group is somewhat more cohesive and well as more nationalistic. Most of them find it difficult to believe that Cambodians could have killed each other; thus, they feel that foreigners must have caused the genocide in their country. Some of them are curious to learn what happened, but don’t have what could be termed as a “political agenda.” Others are much more interested in finding justice for the victims, and look at the genocide in black and white terms: the Khmer Rouge were always, and will always be, bad. Both groups, however, seem far better able to hold dialogs with each other than the adult survivors.

Opportunities for the ECCC

Perhaps the most burning question regarding the tribunal is whether the government of Cambodia and the UN – both of which have indirectly supported the Khmer Rouge in the past (the government by granting amnesties in return for peace during the 1990s and the UN by allowing the Khmer Rouge to hold their seat at the United Nations for ten years) – can find a solution that helps each of the disparate parties find hope for the future through the tribunal.

Both the Royal Government and UN have arguments for doing what they did, but in the eyes of the survivors and the generation of Cambodians under the age of 25, they have much to account for.

Ironically, the tribunal presents a great opportunity for both to gain trust and respect in Cambodia. If the government is perceived as open and fair, the resulting public trust would allow it to move forward with its policy agenda. Similar actions on the part of the UN would produce both popular and government support for its activities in Cambodia. Such a visible success would also allow it to further its agenda of preventing, intervening, or prosecuting genocides in other parts of the world.

A very important way in which the ECCC gain people’s trust is by engaging the public in a transparent and even-handed manner. Whether or not all these diverse parties like the results is less important than whether their concerns were taken into account in the first place: whether someone listened to them and took them seriously.

For example, when the king calls the UN side to come and talk with him, they should go. The royalists would be encouraged and everyone else would see that all sides of the story are being heard. If evidence indicates that some of today’s CPP leaders should be indicted, then they should be. This will show Cambodia and the world that justice is for all, not merely those in power. Whatever the response of the ECCC, it should be open and public. Cambodia has had enough justice administered behind closed doors.

It is essential that the ECCC provide some answers to all of these groups about who is accountable and why. The tribunal must leave people with a judgment, something concrete they can take away and debate, and something they feel was done in fairness to all. After all, it is for them that the trials will be held.

Nuon Chea, Khmer Rouge Leader, Fit to Face Trial, Court Says
Bloomberg.com
By Paul Tighe
November 2, 2007

Nuon Chea, the most senior surviving leader of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge movement, is fit to face trial on charges of crimes against humanity, the tribunal said.

The 82-year-old former leader underwent a medical examination after he complained of problems related to high blood pressure, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia said in a statement on its Web site yesterday.

``These examinations concluded that he is in a stable condition,'' the tribunal said. ``There is no medical reason which would run counter to his detention conditions or participation in the judicial investigation.''
Nuon Chea, who was charged Sept. 19 by the United Nations- backed court in the capital, Phnom Penh, said he was never in a position to order the deaths that occurred under the rule of the Khmer Rouge movement between 1975 and 1979. An estimated 1.7 million people died during the movement's years in power.

Nuon Chea ``retains perfectly satisfactory intellectual autonomy for his age,'' according to the statement. He will undergo medical examinations two or three times a year, it said.

Between five and 10 Khmer Rouge leaders may be brought to trial by the tribunal. The regime drove people out of cities to work at forced-labor collective farms as it attempted to impose a communist agrarian state in the Southeast Asian country.

Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader, died in his jungle hideout in 1998. Ta Mok, the group's military chief, died in July 2006. He was held in a military prison after his capture in 1999.

First Session

The UN court had its inaugural session in June and issued its first charges in July, accusing the movement's former prison chief, Kang Kek Ieu, known as Duch, of crimes against humanity.

Nuon Chea said when he was charged in September that he would be ``ashamed to have committed such crimes,'' according to the Web site of the Extraordinary Chambers.

The trial process, which may begin next year, is costing $56.3 million, with the UN providing $43 million and Cambodia's government $13.3 million.

Vietnamese forces ended the rule of the Khmer Rouge when they captured Phnom Penh in January 1979. Khmer Rouge fighters resisted in the west of the country until their final units surrendered to the Cambodian army 20 years later.

Chilling start to Khmer Rouge tribunal
By Thomas Bell
Telegraph
November 2, 2007

When the Khmer Rouge's victims arrived at the S-21 torture camp in Phnom Penh, the first face they saw after the blindfold was removed belonged to Nhem En.

The men, women and children in the notorious black and white images who appear to be staring death in the face were mostly looking at him.

Today he appeared as the first witness before Cambodia's genocide tribunal as prosecutors make their case against the prison's commandant Kaing Geuk Eav, better known as Duch, for crimes against humanity.

"It's hard to say if they knew they would die or not," he told The Daily Telegraph before giving his testimony in camera.

After months of torture, death awaited every prisoner. Over 14,000 people were sent to S-21 but only half a dozen survived.

"I realised that many times they arrested people who had done nothing," he said. "People from my village confessed to being in the CIA.

"In the end, everyone confessed to something.

"Most people went on to name every person they could think of as an accomplice before they were killed with an iron bar.

"Conversation with the prisoners was discouraged.

"Sometimes they would say, 'why have they arrested me?' and I would say, 'I don't know. My only job is to take your photo'.

"It was a job," he said, "and if you did it wrong you were dead for sure.

"You knew that. I was responsible for taking care of my own head. I took care of it."

The teenage photographer was also responsible for developing and printing the images. “I did it all, he said with a glimmer of pride. It was tough work."

After seizing the capital and declaring "year zero" in 1975, the Maoist Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia for three years, eight months and 20 days before the regime collapsed under the weight of its own insanity and in the face of a Vietnamese invasion.

During that period at least 1.7 million people, over one fifth of the population, were executed or died of torture, starvation and overwork.

After losing power, party workers retreated into Cambodia's jungles to wage a guerrilla war.

Nhem En, 47, finally left the Khmer Rouge in 1995 under a government amnesty.

Today he is a deputy district governor for the ruling party.

He has gold teeth, a gold watch and a chunky gold ring and he discusses his old job without shame or remorse.

"Of course I felt sad for them, but there was nothing I could do," he said of the victims he catalogued.

"As a Buddhist person of course I feel for others." But he does not believe he has bad karma.

"You do good things, you receive good things," he said. "I've become a district governor. I didn't bribe anyone.

"I love my country and I did the job for my country.

"Calling me an artist is kind of correct. As a photographer you try to make it look good," he said, before complaining: "My photos are famous around the world but no-one ever thinks of my copyrights."

He is also angry at the money offered to him by the court to cover his travel expenses.

"I'm living history," he insisted. "They should give me more. The court only offered me $5 and I don't need that money. I'm a deputy governor!

"I did my job and I have my pride. Why do they offer me $5? It's not enough for my breakfast!"

Corruption setback for Khmer Rouge trial
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
By Thomas Bell
November 2, 2007

The Cambodian war crimes tribunal is reeling under a corruption scandal that is the latest setback in a justice process which has taken 10 years to even begin pre-trial hearings.

According to the edited version of an audit completed last month, hiring policies have been so unreliable that all staffing decisions should be nullified and the United Nations Development Programme - which funds the court - should consider withdrawing altogether.

The audit was commissioned by the UN late last year in response to allegations that local staff were paying 30 per cent of their salaries as kickbacks for employment.

It found that 52 “excess” positions had been created, that salaries exceeded comparable jobs elsewhere in Cambodia by around threefold and that in a majority of cases recruits were under-qualified.

Youk Chhang, the director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which has chronicled the Khmer Rouge period, said: “In the eyes of survivors it is a painful betrayal. Can we have something that is not corrupted, just once?”

Eng Chhai Eang, the secretary general of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said he believed the alleged corruption was a politically motivated attempt to slow down proceedings.

“The real worry for us,” he said, “is that these Khmer Rouge leaders are very old and soon they will die. Then what’s the court for?”

The court has said it intends to charge five regime figures with crimes against humanity. But only two are in custody while others still live freely in Cambodia.

The Khmer Rouge leaders Pol Pot, also known as Brother Number One, and Ta Mok, known as The Butcher, have both died already.

Negotiations that began in 1997 created a “hybrid” court which operates within Cambodia’s justice system but includes foreign judges and lawyers.

The court spent the first 18 months of its projected three-year existence on procedural wrangling. Now it appears that its £28 million budget will not be enough.

A court spokesman, Helen Jarvis, said they have full confidence in their recruitment procedures and there is no “convincing evidence [of corruption] that is worth pursuing any further”.

Ex-Khmer Rouge minister detained
BBC News
November 12, 2007

Police and officials from Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal have taken former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary into custody.

Ieng Sary and his wife, former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, were driven to Phnom Penh's special courts.

They will appear before judges who will decide if they should face charges.

Ieng Sary was the brother-in-law of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. Some one million people are thought to have died under the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule.

A special court was established last year to bring surviving leaders of the brutal regime to the dock. Trials are expected to start in 2008.

Two senior Khmer Rouge officials have already been charged by the court.

Pol Pot's second-in command, Nuon Chea, and the head of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison Kang Kek Ieu - also known as Duch - both face charges of crimes against humanity or war crimes.

Purge of intellectuals

Police surrounded the Phnom Penh house of Ieng Sary and his wife early in the morning.

They searched the house for around three hours and then drove the couple away in a convoy of vehicles.

They will face a short hearing at the courts and will likely be charged later in the day, says the BBC's Guy Delauney in Phnom Penh.

The couple, who have been living freely in the Cambodian capital for more than 10 years, were at the heart of the Khmer Rouge leadership.

Ieng Thirith's sister was married to Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge founder who died in 1998.

Ieng Sary, meanwhile, was responsible for convincing many educated Cambodians who had fled the Khmer Rouge to return to help rebuild the country.

Many were then tortured and executed as part of the purge of intellectuals, some of them diplomats from his own office.

Prosecutors for the tribunal have said there is evidence of Ieng Sary's participation in crimes, including planning, directing and coordinating forced labour and unlawful killings.

Ieng Sary has repeatedly denied any crime. In 1996 he became the first senior Khmer Rouge leader to defect - and as a result was granted a royal pardon.

But, says our correspondent, the validity of that agreement looks set to be tested with his arrest by the court.

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Central African Republic

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

Ban Ki-moon lauds gains made in Central African integration, peace
UN News Service
October 30, 2007

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today praised Central Africa for its efforts towards integration and peace, but warned that the region still faces several hurdles.

In a message to the 13th conference of heads of State and of government of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) underway in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo, Mr. Ban said that “the progress which has been achieved so far in the process of integration of Central Africa, as well as in the promotion of peace is encouraging.”

He also noted in his message delivered by his Special Representative for the Central African Republic, François Lonsény Fall that the “collective efforts” of ECCAS countries will promote a common market comprising over 120 million consumers, while the consolidation of peace would bolster socio-economic development for the sub-region as well as the entire African continent.

But at the same time, he acknowledged that Central Africa still faces obstacles in increasing prosperity and the well-being of the population, including the persistence of tension in zones such as eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), eastern Chad and north-eastern Central African Republic (CAR).

The proliferation of light weapons and small arms, the illegal exploitation of natural resources and the rise of human trafficking and cross-border insecurity are also impeding Central African integration, he said.

Mr. Ban welcomed the ongoing steps towards peace in Chad and CAR, adding that he hopes that “the effective implementation of the recommendations and decisions from these processes will reinforce national reconciliation, peacebuilding and reconstruction within these two countries of the sub-region of Central Africa.”

Refugees stream from Central Africa to Cameroon
Reuters
By Tansa Musa
November 2, 2007

YAOUNDE, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The United Nations in Cameroon appealed for more international help on Friday to cope with a growing influx of refugees fleeing unrest in Central African Republic (CAR), including hundreds of malnourished children.

The refugees are mainly nomadic Mbororo cattle herders who have fled in waves from relentless attacks by rebels and bandits who kidnap civilians for ransom and steal livestock.

"There has been a significant increase in the number of CAR refugees in Cameroon," Jacques Franquin, the representative of U.N. refugee agency UNHCR in Cameroon, told Reuters.

"When we started the food distribution operation in August there were 26,000. The number rose to 29,385 in September and 45,192 last month," he said in an interview.

Rag-tag rebel groups have fought an on-off bush war over the past two years across swathes of northern Central African Republic, a landlocked former French colony in the heart of Africa and one of the most underdeveloped nations on earth.

Notoriously unstable, the country has seen 11 attempted coups or mutinies in the past decade alone.

President Francois Bozize has signed peace pacts with at least two rebel groups this year but stability has proved elusive and villagers subjected to attacks by bandits and government soldiers have continued to flee.

Franquin said around 10,000 of those in Cameroon were children under five. Around 1,800 of these were malnourished, some severely, and were in need of urgent attention.

"The UNHCR has run out of funds as well as the World Food Programme (WFP) and (U.N. children's agency) UNICEF which have been partners in the food distribution operation," he said.

He said UNHCR needed $1.5 million for 2008 while the WFP needed $3.5 million to boost its food aid.
Some of the refugees had been targeted by armed gangs and renegade soldiers even after they fled their villages as they tried to escape over the border.

UNICEF had set up five nutrition centres to provide treatment for malnourished children while UNHCR planned to dig 100 wells as the dry season sets in to supply water to villages spread over a vast area where the refugees have settled.

Many of those crossing into Cameroon avoid being officially registered for fear of being repatriated and Franquin said he anticipated the influx would continue.

"We foresee these people settling in eastern Cameroon for a long time. That is why there is need for more aid to develop a new coping mechanism which will enable them to become self-sufficient and integrate with local communities," he said.

CAR's Bozizé reaches out to rebels
Afriqenligne
November 7, 2007

Bangui, Central African Republic - President François Bozizé of the Central African Republic has expressed the hope that the rebel groups operating in the north of the country will end their rebellion to restore stability in the country and alleviate the sufferings of the people.

Speaking in Bocaranga (500 km north-west of capital, Bangui) Tuesday, during a belated observance of the World Food Day, the President said: "I am reaching out to them for us to reach together an honourable surrender by ending the armed confrontation at the end of which there will be no winner but only blood and tears from our fellow citizens, our relatives.

"To end the unnecessary sufferings of rural populations, I engaged in talks with the rebel groups who accepted the principle," he said, recalling the agreements signed 2 February 2007 in Sirte, Libya, with the Central African People's Democratic Front (FDPC) of Abdoulaye Miskine and on 13 April 2007 in Birao, CAR, with the Union of Democratic Forces for Rally (UFDR) of Zakaria Damane.

President Bozizé's declarations came as the country prepares for an "all-inclusive" political dialogue to pave the way for a negotiated settlement of the crisis triggered by the rebellion, which was launched in the country's north in June 2005.

No date or venue has been announced for the political 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

DRC: Demobilise child soldiers, free minors held by military courts, says MONUC
IRIN NEWS
November 2, 2007

KINSHASA, 2 November 2007 (IRIN) - MONUC, the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has called on the army to demobilise all child soldiers in its ranks and hand over any minors held by military tribunals to civilian jurisdiction.

"We believe there are almost 200 minors still present in various FARDC [regular army] brigades currently deployed in North Kivu," MONUC spokesman Kemal Saiki told reporters on 31 October.

"[MONUC] has exhorted Congolese military authorities to release minors in its troops and immediately halt their recruitment," he added.

Two leaders of armed groups based in DRC’s Ituri region were in the custody of the International Criminal Court in The Hague charged with, among other war crimes, recruiting children into their ranks.

Eighteen is the minimum legal age for voluntary recruitment into the regular armed forces in DRC, which is signatory to various international conventions prohibiting the use of children in the military.

MONUC has also called for anyone under the age of 18 who has been arrested and tried by military courts in North Kivu to be freed, as has already happened in neighbouring South Kivu province.

Article 114 of the military jurisdiction code stipulates that military courts are not competent to deal with persons aged less than 18 years old.

Saiki said that minors suspected of belonging to armed groups were being detained by military authorities in North Kivu on a daily basis.

In July, the London-based Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers reported that in eastern DRC there were "several thousand" minors within the ranks of the army, armed groups resisting a process of integration into the national army and foreign armed groups.

"The need to build up troop strength, fear of arrest and perceptions of child soldiers as the personal property of military commanders are among the explanations for the continued use of child soldiers," the report stated.

A process of demobilisation of child soldiers was launched in 2002 but has made little progress.

UN probes 10 years of Congo slaughter: Eleven years after mass killings by Rwandan troops, those responsible could be identified.
Guardian Unlimited
By Ruaridh Nicoll
November 4, 2007

The United Nations is preparing to send a 16-strong team into the Democratic Republic of the Congo to map human rights abuses, 11 years after 200,000 refugees disappeared and following a continental war that has cost the lives of an estimated four million people.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has been given $2.3m (£1.1m) to conduct a three-month investigation to map 'the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed within the territory of the DRC between March 1993 and June 2003'.

The worst killing is believed to have occurred when the Rwandan army, under the surrogate Congolese rebel leader Laurent Kabila, drove Mobutu Sese Seko from power in 1997 while exacting revenge for the 1994 genocide.

'A lot of people went into the forest and were never heard from,' said Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch, who had been part of an earlier, failed attempt to determine how many died and who killed them.

The document the new UN team has put together suggests perpetrators of war crimes may be brought to justice, listing its objectives as assessing 'the existing capacities within the national justice system to deal with such human rights violations as may be uncovered'.

The greatest atrocities appear to have been in 1997. The refugees, Hutus from Rwandan and Burundi, many of them women and children, had been in the vast camps that grew up on the Rwandan border after the genocide in June 1994. These camps were riven with the perpetrators of genocide, driven from their country after they had attempted to annihilate their Tutsi neighbours.

When the killers in the camps continued to raid across the border, the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front, which had ended the genocide in 1994, invaded.

Although many of the 1.2 million refugees returned to Rwanda, hundreds of thousands fled into the interior.

Three massacres have been widely recorded. One was outside the regional capital of Kisangani, where witnesses say thousands of Hutu refugees were killed on a railway line, their bodies cremated in a disused quarry before the ashes were dropped into the Congo river. The second was at a town called Mbandaka in the north, where up to 2,000 refugees were caught trying to cross into neighbouring Congo Brazzaville and were cut down in front of the town's population.

'A soldier brought an eight-month-old baby so we could bury him,' said a Red Cross worker. 'But we said, "We can't bury someone living". He took a stick and he hit the child on the head until he was dead.' Then, in September 2005, three mass graves were found to the north of Goma.

As we report in the accompanying film, another mass killing appears to have occurred in the town of Shabunda in South Kivu, in camps that had formed by the river and at a Bailey bridge north of the town.
'The UN was guilty of negligence amounting almost to complicity in this counter-genocide,' said Jasper Elgood, who worked for the aid agency Merlin. 'The UN proclaimed that any refugees who declined to be repatriated would be assumed to be guilty of war crimes.'

Another western aid worker, who still operates in the area, made the bitter comment: 'To this day I have a hard time stomaching the Rwandan genocide propaganda and those who hold up the current regime as a model for all of central Africa.'

An initial attempt to map the sites late in 1997 failed because of interference from Laurent Kabila's government. The UN say that the current government, run by his son Joseph, fully supports this new effort.

A spokesman for Human Rights Watch, the only organisation to compile a report so far, said: 'We support this move as a necessary step towards establishing accountability for some terrible war crimes in eastern Congo that involved hundreds of thousands of people.'

Congo-Kinshasa: EU - A Human Rights Delegation Visiting
Allafrica.com
Nina Yacoubian
November 5, 2007

A delegation of specialists in human rights from the European Union met with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for the DRC William Swing in MONUC headquarters in Kinshasa, on Monday 5 November 2007.

The purpose of the meeting is to inquire into the evolution of human rights respect in the country and the best way for the European countries to continue their support in this field.

The delegation members representing France, Spain, Netherlands and Sweden are in DRC for six days. After Kinshasa, they will visit Goma and Bukavu, to inquire into the numerous allegations concerning human rights violations in the region.

"The goal of our visit is to discuss the human rights situation with the government, the non governmental organizations, the United Nations and other international partners," the Netherlands envoy to DRC, ambassador Arjam Hamburger, explained.

The delegation will also discuss other topics such as violence against woman, protection of children and of children associated with armed forces and groups, as well as the respect of the International Criminal Court treaty signed by the DRC.

"There is a convention that has been signed and ratified by the DRC. It is necessary to translate the obligations of this treaty in their national legislation. We are trying to debate that in order to accelerate this process in the country", Mr. Hamburger added.

This Monday morning, the delegation met with the Congolese Foreign Minister and will also meet with other members of the DRC's executive office, including the Ministers of; Human Rights, Justice, Feminine Condition, Interior and Defense.

After this visit, the representatives of the countries concerned will elaborate a report to be submitted to the respective governments in order to better contain the problem and to improve the collaboration that already exists between the European countries and the DRC government in this field.

Sixteen Ituri warlords join DRC army
IRIN NEWS
Nov 6, 2007

A senior DRC official has declared the war-ravaged northeastern region of Ituri free of armed groups after 16 senior commanders flew to Kinshasa to join the regular army.

"There are no more armed groups in Ituri because now that the heads of the three main militias have arrived, there remain only a few isolated elements of the FPRI [Front des resistants patriotes de l'Ituri – Ituri Patriotic Resistance Front]," said Ntumba Luaba, the coordinator of the National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration.

Among the 16 who left Ituri on 2 November were leaders of the Congolese Revolutionary Movement (MRC) and the Front of the Integrationist Nationalists (FNI).

Clashes rooted in tensions between Ituri's two main ethnic groups, the Hema and the Lendu, have claimed thousands of lives since 1999, while many more civilians have been displaced.

All of Ituri's ethnic groups are "represented" in the military integration process, according to the UN Mission in DRC, MONUC.

Those who travelled to Kinshasa stressed their commitment to seeing peace return to Ituri.

"We are here to respond to the appeal by the head of state [President Joseph Kabila] and to rejoin the regular army," FNI leader Peter Karim told journalists in Kinshasa as he descended from a MONUC aircraft.

"We are re-integrating into the army because the army is our profession," said Matthieu Ngudjolo, the MRC leader.

"These are important leaders of armed groups with us now as senior army officers… peace is at hand," declared Colonel Abdalah Nyembo, who travelled with the group from Ituri.

Armed groups in Ituri have been widely accused of killing, maiming and raping civilians for years.

On October 18, one rebel leader, Germain Katanga, 29, was taken into the custody of the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In January 2007, the ICC indicted Thomas Lubanga for war crimes, specifically the conscription of children into his militia. Lubanga, 46, was arrested on 17 March 2006 in Ituri, becoming the first suspect to be taken into ICC custody, two years after the tribunal's prosecutor launched investigations into his activities in the Ituri conflict.

60 rebels in DR Congo put down their weapons
Agence France Press
November 8, 2007

KINSHASA (AFP) — Sixty former rebels surrendered their weapons in the Democratic Republic of Congo's troubled northeast Ituri region, the United Nations said Thursday.

"Sixty ex-combatants from the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) arrived Thursday in Bunia," UN Observer Mission in DR Congo (Monuc) spokesman Madnodje Mounoubai told AFP.

The former rebels, according to Mounoubai, are waiting to be picked up by the Democratic Republic of Congo forces (FARDC), and they will probably be transferred to the soldier reintegration centre in the west of the country.

The 60 stepped up a few days after three former warlords from Ituri arrived in Kinshasa on November 2, as part of a peace deal with the government, signed before the elections in July 2006.

The former militia chiefs include Peter Karim from FNI, "Cobra" Matata Wanaloki from the Patriotic Resistance Forces in Ituri (FRPI) and Matthieu Ngujolo of the Congolese Revolutionary Movement.

"It is difficult to say exactly the number of militia who remain who need to be disarmed as they arrive voluntarily and in drips and drabs," Mounoubai said.

Since 2005, the national disarmament and reintegration process has processed 20,000 former militiamen.

Ituri has been the 1999 of violent skirmishes between militia as well as inter-ethnic violence that have between them killed more than 60,000, according to humanitarian agencies.

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Darfur, Sudan (ICC)

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

Sudan will not accept any European troops for hybrid force: Official
Sudan Tribune (Paris)
October 29, 2007

(KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese government will not accept any European personnel as part of the hybrid force to be deployed in Darfur, a Sudanese official told reporters in Khartoum.

“Any technical teams within the agreement supposed to have been come from China and Pakistan” Foreign affairs spokesman Ali Al-Sadig said.

UN Security Council resolution 1769 establishing UN-AU hybrid force provided for a transition from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) to the force known as UNAMID by December 31st.

However Ban Ki-Moon said that several obstacles stand in the way of a speedy deployment including the land needed for the construction of UNAMID headquarters in Darfur. The Sudanese government has yet to assign the land for the hybrid force.

The other issue pending is Sudan’s approval on a list of troop donor countries for the Darfur force. At Sudan’s request the UN resolution called for a force with a “predominantly African character” but stressed the need for “a force which could effectively implement the mandate set out in resolution 1769”.

Diplomats said Sudan has not yet approved units from Thailand, Nepal and Norway even though 90 percent of the ground troops and 75 percent of the entire proposed force are from Africa. The US envoy at the UN threatened Sudan with further sanctions if it continues with “foot dragging”.

Al-Sadig said that some countries in the UN want to admit other countries as part of the force particularly from Europe.

“Deployment of any troops rather than those agreed upon are not matter of concern to Sudan” he stressed.

This is the first formal reaction from a Sudanese official on the list of troop donating countries submitted by the UN & AU to Khartoum for approval. Sudan’s position may suggest that there may be further delays in the deployment of the hybrid force.

The head of the peace department at ministry of foreign affairs Sirag Al-Deen Hamid told the government sponsored Sudanese media Center (SMC) that if African countries are unable to provide the necessary forces then Khartoum has the right “to recruit elements from Arab and Islamic sources”.

Yesterday the "tank killers", a special units of a government militia known as Popular Defense Forces, issued a statement urging the government to reject the hybrid force altogether.

The statement described classification of troops into "acceptable French troops" and "non-acceptable Norweigan troops" as "ridiculous".

International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in the conflict, which Washington calls genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use. The Sudan government says 9,000 people have been killed.

Sudan: Cease Darfur Camp Evictions; Forced Relocations by Khartoum Violate International Law
Human Rights Watch
October 31, 2007

The government of Sudan’s recent forced relocation of civilians in South Darfur is a serious violation of international law and could be the prelude to new attempts to dismantle certain civilian camps, Human Rights Watch warned today. Sudan’s government should cease the relocation operation, immediately confirm the whereabouts and well-being of those who have been moved, and allow the African Union Mission in Sudan, the United Nations Mission in Sudan, and humanitarian agencies access to all displaced persons, whether they reside in camps or other locations in Darfur.
Between October 25 and 30, Sudanese police and military forces entered at least two locations near Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, and forced hundreds of civilians, mainly women and children, into trucks at gunpoint. At least 400 families were moved from the two sites, all of them new arrivals who had fled Kalma camp following violence the previous week.

“The Sudanese government has repeatedly tried to dismantle Kalma camp and relocate its residents by force to unsafe areas, without any security guarantees or humanitarian aid,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “International policymakers should vigorously condemn this incident and make clear to Khartoum that any relocation must be underpinned by international law and fundamental human rights guarantees.”

On October 25, Sudanese armed forces and armed police moved at least 300 families from the village of Mayok, between Kalma camp and Nyala town. On the evening of October 27, they entered Otash camp, on the outskirts of Nyala town, and forced 400 people from the camp into trucks. At least 36 people reportedly were arrested and an unknown number of others were injured during the operation. On October 28, the UN and humanitarian staff tried to visit Otash, but were refused access by Sudanese security forces. The police were reported to be clearing the shelters and possessions that the displaced people had left behind.

In June 2007, Sudanese officials proposed six resettlement locations for displaced persons from Kalma, but they were rejected by the population as not secure due to the presence of militia or military. In recent weeks, authorities again pressed people to move, before the latest round of violence in Kalma on October 18-20 left at least three civilians dead, and forced these families to flee. A number of families had reconfirmed in recent days that they did not wish to move to the proposed sites.

“While there are clearly problems with security in Kalma camp, many people feel safer there than in rural areas where they are extremely vulnerable to ongoing attacks and have no access to humanitarian assistance,” said Takirambudde. “Rather than trying to dismantle the camps and forcibly relocate people, the government should cooperate with the African Union and UN to improve security in the camps.”

The recent events are the latest in a long history of Sudanese government attempts to close Kalma camp, home to at least 90,000 people and one of the largest camps for displaced persons in Darfur. Most of the displaced people in the camps were victims of government and “Janjaweed” militia attacks, and have no confidence in Sudanese government efforts to provide security. Many of the displaced people see the relocation efforts as an attempt to exert further control over their movements and cut off their access to Nyala town and to international aid workers.

In November 2004, there was international outcry when the government made its first attempt to forcibly relocate residents of Kalma to camps in Nyala town. Throughout 2005 the authorities maintained pressure on both the displaced people and on the humanitarian community to relocate people to an alternative site, Al-Salam. When the population refused in May 2005, the government imposed a ban on commercial activity in Kalma (including prohibiting the market and supplies of goods from Nyala town) to be lifted only if the humanitarian community began relocating people to Al-Salam. For much of 2007, the government has been again pressing displaced people to relocate from Kalma.

International humanitarian law prohibits the displacement of the civilian population, unless it is strictly for the purpose of civilian security or for reasons of military imperative. Despite government claims, it is not clear that either reason was applicable to the displacement of the population in Kalma. Governments may also seek to relocate a displaced population for the protection of public health, but again, despite government claims, there were no apparent compelling public health reasons for the relocation.

The manner in which the government carried out the forced relocations also breached their obligations to the civilian population under international law. Under international standards, any relocation of displaced persons should be voluntary, and carried out in full consultation with the displaced. Displacement must not be carried out in a manner that violates the rights to life, dignity, liberty and security of those affected, and they must not be forcibly resettled in any place where their life, safety, liberty, and/or health would be at risk. International humanitarian organizations should be given rapid and unimpeded access to internally displaced persons to assist in their resettlement.

Despite the fact that UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes made a public statement confirming events, Sudan’s UN envoy, Abdelmahmood Abdelhaleem Mohamed, told reporters that the UN’s accounts of the events in Otash were “irrelevant, unfortunate and unconfirmed.”

“Sudanese officials must end their policy of denying the reality on the ground in Darfur and start trying to rebuild the confidence of their citizens,” said Takirambudde. “The first step would be to acknowledge their own responsibility for serious crimes and take serious steps to end abuses, including by cooperating with, not obstructing, the African Union and UN.”

Child drawings of Darfur atrocities 'can be evidence'
The Independent (London)
By Andrew Grice
November 2, 2007

More than 500 children's drawings illustrating the atrocities in Darfur can be accepted as evidence in a war crimes trial, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has agreed.

In August, The Independent revealed the remarkable pictures drawn by children as young as eight after they fled over the border to Chad. They showed attacks on Darfuri civilians by Sudanese government troops and Arab janjaweed militias.

Yesterday, the drawings were handed to the ICC, which is prosecuting a Sudanese minister and a militia commander accused of war crimes. They were backed up by written statements from children and adults given to the charity Waging Peace, which campaigns against genocide.

The ICC prosecutor's office in The Hague said: "We are in contact with Waging Peace to see how we could use [the pictures] in proceedings, for example to set the context for the judges as part of the presentation of evidence."

A spokeswoman said the young artists themselves would not be called to give evidence because the ICC did not want them to relive their trauma, but she added: "Compelling drawings like these are very important and can do much to raise awareness about the situation in Darfur. They tell a lot about the scale and the nature of the violence."

Louise Roland-Gosselin, the director of Waging Peace, presented the drawings at a 90-minute meeting with Gloria Atiba-Davies, the head of the ICC's Children and Gender Unit, and prosecutors.

The court has issued arrest warrants for Ahmad Harun, Sudan's former junior interior minister and now humanitarian affairs minister, and Ali Kushayb, a Janjaweed leader.

Official expelled from Darfur
Al Jazeera
November 8, 2007

Regional authorities in Sudan's southern Darfur have expelled a UN humanitarian official, accusing him of unspecified rule violations, the world body has said.

Wael al-Haj-Ibrahim headed the UN office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the town of Nyala, which was in charge of aid for up to one million displaced people.

According to Stephanie Bunker, a OCHA spokeswoman, al-Haj-Ibrahim "has been forced to leave" by provincial authorities.

Bunker said that the UN official was not asked to leave Sudan but "rather forced to leave south Darfur for conduct incompatible with humanitarian work rules".

She did not elaborate.

"The United Nations is extremely concerned about the ramifications of this decision," said Marie Okabe, a UN spokeswoman.

Okabe said the expulsion violated agreements signed between the UN and the Sudanese government to facilitate aid in Darfur.

She also said that Ameerah Haq, the chief UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Sudan, was taking up the issue with authorities in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

Unspecified charge

UN officials have said that the state governor's directive in Darfur accused al-Haj-Ibrahim, a Canadian of Palestinian descent, of violating "rules of humanitarian action," but did not specify how he had had done so.

The Aegis Trust, a British-based group that campaigns against genocide, said al-Haj-Ibrahim had been forced out for "resisting a policy that amounts to further ethnic cleansing" of Darfur's African population.

James Smith, Aegis chief executive, said: "With no security to allow them to return home and rebuild, forced removal of the [displaced people] from the camps gives their inhabitants no choice but to leave the region or die."

Both UN aid officials and independent charities working in Darfur have complained of bureaucratic harassment by Sudanese authorities.

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Uganda (ICC)

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

Museveni to reassure rebels of 'soft landing'
The Washington Times
By Tom Carter
October 31, 2007

The government of Uganda will reiterate its offer of a "soft landing" for members of the Lord's Resistance Army at a meeting with leaders of the rebel movement in Kampala tomorrow, President Yoweri Museveni said yesterday in Washington.

"They said they wanted to come and we welcome them," Mr. Museveni told The Washington Times after reports that top members of the group — which is known for kidnapping children and turning them into vicious warriors — would attend talks in the Ugandan capital for the first time in two decades.

"They are coming to test the waters. It is up to those terrorists to come in. We fought them and their sponsors in Sudan. ... We took the decision to give them a soft landing, provided that they give up their terrorism," he said after meetings with President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Wire service reports from Uganda said that senior Lord's Resistance Army rebels had arrived in Entebbe and were en route to Kampala for the talks.

LRA spokesman Godfrey Ayoo told reporters in Nairobi, Kenya, before leaving for Uganda that the movement was carrying a "message of peace" to the Ugandan people.

"We have not been in Uganda for 21 years and we are inviting them to join us as we chart the way forward for peace," he was quoted as saying.

The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, has been waging a guerrilla war against the Ugandan army since 1986, leaving more than 100,000 dead and 1.7 million displaced. At least 75,000 Ugandan children have been kidnapped and forced to fight on the side of the LRA, in some cases forced to kill their own parents or brothers and sisters.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has indicted Kony and wants to try him for crimes against humanity. Some fear that the ICC charges will keep Kony and his rebels from laying down their arms.

Ugandan rebels meet president for first talks on home soil
The Associated Press / International Herald Tribune
November 4, 2007

KAMPALA, Uganda: Rebel delegates met with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in the first home-soil talks between the sides, marking another step toward long-term peace for the African nation.

Delegates from the insurgent group known for mutilating civilians, forcing children to fight and other atrocities flew from abroad this week to Uganda, where they were met Museveni late Saturday. Museveni met face-to-face once before with rebels, at then-acrimonious talks in Sudan.

The Ugandan leader is trying to draw the rebels into a peace deal by inviting them to return to the country and offering to shelter them from prosecution by the International Criminal Court, which has charged several rebel leaders with war crimes.

"The meeting went very well," said Henry Okello Oryem, a government negotiator. "The president encouraged them to come home and gave guarantees for their security."

They also discussed what kind of justice system the rebels might face at home, most likely a system aimed at national reconciliation.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, has issued arrest warrants for the top five leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army for war crimes, but Museveni's government has promised not to turn them over if they sign a peace deal. None of those named in the warrant was in Kampala; they're believed to be hiding out in a forest in eastern Congo.

The rebels' willingness to travel to the seat of the government, and the government's willingness to host them, indicates a growing trust between the two sides.

The rebels have accused soldiers of killing and beating civilians in northern Uganda.

Southern Sudan has been mediating talks between the LRA and the Ugandan government since July. A truce has been signed, but the talks have not yielded much progress and have repeatedly stalled.

They nonetheless are seen as a good chance to end a conflict that also has affected eastern Congo and Sudan's south.

The Lord's Resistance Army is made up of the remnants of a rebellion that began after Museveni took power in 1986. The rebels are notorious for cutting off the tongues and lips of civilians and abducting thousands of children, turning the girls into sex slaves and the boys into fighters.

How to punish Uganda rebels
BBC News
By Sarah Grainger
November 6, 2007

Under the shade of the trees at St Monica's Tailoring School for Girls in Gulu, representatives of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels began public consultations on whether four of their top commanders should face an international war crimes trial.

There was an invited audience of cultural leaders, local politicians and other prominent community members.

The leader of the LRA delegation, Martin Ojul, told them the group had come to ask for people's opinions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and whether an alternative justice mechanism could be found.

Four of the LRA's top commanders, including its leader Joseph Kony, have been charged with war crimes, including rape and the use of child soldiers in combat.

The arrest warrants were issued at the request of the Ugandan government.

But at a meeting with the rebel delegation on Saturday, President Yoweri Museveni said he would not be asking for the warrants to be removed until a final peace deal had been signed.

The rebels have consistently expressed the wish to face justice within Uganda.

Justice demands

The LRA representatives plan to travel to camps across northern Uganda in the coming days and weeks where people have sheltered from the fighting for years.

There they will ask victims of the conflict what they believe should happen.

In Opit camp, 30km outside Gulu, opinions are mixed.

Helen Opolot is a 40-year-old mother of six, whose 14-year-old daughter was abducted by the LRA in 2002.

Although Ms Opolot says she wants peace more than anything, she also thinks Joseph Kony and others may have a case to answer in court.

"If they've done wrong, they should face justice," she told me.

Fear of conflict

Many in the camps still have no access to their land, and are unable to grow food.

Poverty, or rather avoiding it, is their main priority.

That is the case for Walter, a 30-year-old former abductee, with two wives and five children to feed.

"The government should not pursue these people into court. They should return to Uganda willingly and the government should just be open to them," he said.

Others still remain fearful that the conflict between the LRA and the Ugandan government is not over.

Patrick Obong, 28, tells me that "the ICC should have arrested those people months ago".

He worries that while Mr Kony and the other LRA leaders fear capture, they may decide to start attacking civilians in northern Uganda again.

The Ugandan government has been carrying out its own consultations on the ICC arrest warrants.

Both sides will take their findings back to the peace talks in southern Sudan in December, where they hope to come to an agreement on the issue.

Uganda's LRA rebels ask war victims for forgiveness
Reuters
By Tim Cocks
November 6, 2007

GULU, Uganda, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebels pleaded for forgiveness on Tuesday for atrocities committed during their 20-year insurgency, but some victims said they had mixed feelings about the appeal.

Speaking during a visit to northern Uganda as part of a historic return to the country aimed at boosting talks to end the conflict, delegates representing the LRA asked locals to put past wrongs behind them.

Gulu was the epicentre of a rebellion by LRA guerrillas who increasingly targeted civilians from their own Acholi tribe.

Two million people fled their homes and tens of thousands were killed. The rebels built a reputation for mutilating their victims and kidnapping thousands of children to serve the group as fighters, porters and sex slaves.

"We're not here to deny anything," Ayena Odongo, a lawyer with the LRA delegates, said in a speech. "We ask you all to forgive us. If we don't forgive, we cannot move forward."

The comments followed a radio show late on Monday in which the head of the LRA delegation, Martin Ojul, admitted the rebels had made "plenty of mistakes".

A ceasefire was agreed at peace talks that began in South Sudan more than a year ago, raising hopes of a conclusion to one of Africa's longest wars.

But LRA leader Joseph Kony and other commanders remain holed up in jungle hideouts in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, fearing international arrest warrants.

Kony and three top deputies are wanted for war crimes by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The indictments are a sticking point for any peace deal.

"RECONCILIATION FOR PEACE"

"It doesn't matter where we sign the agreement, we are going to need to get Kony on a plane to do it. How can he know the plane isn't going to take him to the ICC?" Odongo asked.

The LRA are in Gulu mainly to canvas local opinion about what kind of justice people want the rebels to undergo. Many of the LRA's victims have said they would happily forgive Kony if he makes peace.

"We can forgive," said Richard Otim, as he hobbled on stumps blown off at the knee. "I lost my legs to a landmine, but I have no bitterness. We need reconciliation for peace."

Not all agree.

"Kony should be taken to The Hague," said market trader Consy Lawil, 35, who lost her ears, nose and lips when the rebels sliced them off with a machete. "He should be jailed for life for what he's done."

Having initially sought a scrapping of the ICC indictments as a condition of a peace deal, the rebel delegates now say they want to negotiate with the court after the indictees have signed and undergone local justice procedures in Uganda.

The ICC insists any trials would have to dish out stiff punishments to deliver justice.

"We don't want to condone impunity; we want to find a way that those indicted can face justice in Uganda ... The ICC will back down," Ojul told Reuters on Tuesday.

Local leaders say they want the LRA commanders to undergo traditional rituals where they face the victims' relatives and are forgiven. Rights groups reject that as too soft. (Editing by Daniel Wallis and Peter Millership)

Uganda's LRA boss denies killing deputy-activist
Reuters
By Tim Cocks
November 8, 2007

KAMPALA, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The leader of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebels (LRA) Joseph Kony has denied media reports that he killed his second-in-command, a leading peace activist who spoke with Kony said on Friday.

Norbert Mao, a politician and key player in peace talks between the rebels and the government aimed at ending a brutal 20-year war said he called the reclusive Kony on Thursday and that he told him that Vincent Otti is alive.

Both Kony and Otti are wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes during their insurgency and have stayed hidden in remote northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), fearing arrest if they attend peace talks.

"He told me Vincent Otti is not dead. He is only under house arrest because of a disagreement with Kony," Mao told Reuters by telephone from war-ravaged northern Uganda.

Otti was seen as the public face of the LRA and a strong influence on their decision to open dialogue.

He often talked to mediators and reporters by satellite phone from his jungle hideout. But he has fallen silent in the past month, prompting speculation that Kony had killed him.

Mao said Kony had accused his deputy of being a Ugandan government spy and imprisoned him at an undisclosed Congolese forest location. Mao had cautioned Kony not to kill Otti.

"Movements like the LRA operate on paranoia," he said. "I told Kony he needs to deal with this internal disagreement without too much recklessness."

Uganda's conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted two million and destabilised parts of Sudan and Congo.

LRA delegates arrived in Uganda last week for a historic visit and meeting with President Yoweri Museveni. Talks started in South Sudan in July last year.

LRA delegates are touring the north to shore up support for an effort to prevent Kony, Otti and two other commanders from being tried for war crimes at the Hague-based ICC.

"These internal disagreements in the LRA will not derail the talks," Mao said. "Kony understands that to take Otti out of the equation will not help."

But he admitted that the rift between Kony and Otti was a concern for peace. Otti is articulate and more predictable than his volatile, press-shy boss.

Kony himself is never contactable for comment. (Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)

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International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Official Website of the ICTY

Croatian General's Extradition Suspended
Javno.org
November 9, 2007

The ruling sent to the Austrian ministry says Zagorec cannot be extradited until further notice, until Strasbourg solves the issue.

A judge of the European court in Strasbourg passed a temporary suspension measure on the extradition of former Croatian General Vladimir Zagorec to Croatia, Vecernji list reports. The information was confirmed by Zagorec’s attorney Zvonimir Hodak.

The ruling sent to the Austrian ministry says Zagrec cannot be extradited to Croatia until further notice, until the court in Strasbourg solves the issue.

Zagorec’s defence counsel sent to Strasbourg all evidence that he and his family are in danger of being liquidated in Croatia.

- This triggered Article 3 of the European Human Rights Charter that prevents extradition to the homeland in case of such a danger – Hodak said.

He added that the chief piece of evidence was a DVD of Zagorec’s conversation between Croatian presidential advisor Sasa Perkovic and the arrest of Susanne di Mauro Bunjevac in Zagreb.

Kosovo war crimes witness arrested: U.N. tribunal
Reuters
By Gilbert Kreijger; Editing by Caroline Drees
November 9, 2007

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A witness in the U.N. war crimes trial of Kosovo's former prime minister was arrested on Friday for failing to appear in court, the tribunal said.

The court issued an arrest warrant for Kosovo Albanian Avni Krasniqi after he ignored an order to appear on October 29 at the trial of Ramush Haradinaj, who has been indicted for murder, rape and torture alleged to have been committed by his forces.

Krasniqi, who is now in contempt of court, will appear before the U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia on Monday to face charges of failing to appear at the trial.

A tribunal spokeswoman declined to say where he was arrested or by whom, citing security reasons.

Haradinaj, Kosovo's prime minister from 2004 to 2005 and a Kosovo Albanian, went on trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia in March on charges related to his time as a Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leader in the war against Serb forces between 1998-99.

The tribunal said that throughout Haradinaj's trial, the prosecution had complained of witness intimidation, leading some to refuse to testify.

Considered a hero by many Kosovo Albanians, Haradinaj is the most senior former KLA guerrilla to be indicted over the war and the first serving head of government to be indicted since former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Haradinaj resigned after his indictment in 2005.

Kosovo, whose 2-million-population is 90 percent Albanian, was the cause of NATO's first "humanitarian" war in 1999 to remove Serb forces who killed 10,000 Albanians and drove out almost 1 million in a two-year conflict with the KLA.

The province has been run by the United Nations ever since, and individuals on both sides of the conflict have been indicted by the U.N. tribunal.

Serbian radical says Hague tribunal illegitimate
Reuters
By Niclas Mika
November 8, 2007

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Serbian radical accused of stirring nationalism and promoting ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia said on Thursday that the U.N. tribunal trying him for war crimes was "illegal and illegitimate".

Prosecutors say Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj incited such hatred of Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs it sparked mass deportations and drove Serb paramilitaries to a frenzy of murder and torture. He denies the charges.

His trial, which opened on Wednesday, is a new chance for prosecutors to hold Serb leaders responsible for crimes during the wars that tore apart former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. The trial of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic ended without a verdict after his death in The Hague in March 2006.

Seselj, 53, was defiant and condemned the court as a tool of the United States, which led a NATO bombing campaign that drove Milosevic's troops out of Kosovo in 1999.

"I am being tried by an illegal and illegitimate court. I am talking about an institution that was unlawfully established ... the (U.N.) Security Council did that according to the diktat of the United States of America," Seselj said on Thursday.

"The task of this court has been carried out through many of its judgments, and that task is to falsify modern Serb history."

FORCED REMOVALS

He is accused of a joint criminal enterprise with Milosevic to create a "Greater Serbia" by inciting the forced removal of non-Serbs from large swaths of Bosnia and Croatia.

"A joint criminal enterprise was organised by those breaking up Yugoslavia, not by us, who opposed the break-up of Yugoslavia, who opposed one-sided secession," Seselj said.

Seselj said he was "especially grateful to the prosecution for enabling me to suffer for my ideology".

"With this trial, my ideology of Serb nationalism cannot be uprooted from the Serbian people, it will grow even deeper," he said."

"I express my greatest regret that those who wrote the statute of the ICTY did not envisage the death penalty, so that ... upright as my friend Saddam Hussein, I could put the final seal on my ideology. It would become immortal."

At one point during Seselj's opening statement, the court asked him to speak more slowly so interpreters could keep up and also to speak less loudly as judges had trouble hearing the translation in their headsets above his voice.

Seselj promised to try but said: "Adrenaline has been rising in me for five years and now is the day."

Last year, Seselj went on hunger strike for 28 days to win the right to represent himself in court, causing the start of the trial to be suspended.

Serbia investigates 160 Albanians for war crimes
B92
November 9, 2007

BELGRADE -- The War Crimes Prosecution says 160 Albanians are under investigation for committing war crimes in Kosovo.

“Proceedings are under way against two people in Serbia who were available to the authorities, while proceedings against a further 160 or more people - namely Albanians - for whom international arrest warrants were issued, are at various stages,“ Prosecution spokesman Bruno Vekaric told journalists in Belgrade.

The announcement came following a meeting with members of the Associations of Hostages and Murdered Serbs in Kosovo.

The individuals are suspected of committing war crimes against Serb and other non-Albanian civilians in Kosovo.

Victims’ family members were somewhat sceptical going into the talks with War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic.

They said that they could not see anything being done to shed light on crimes committed against Serbs. However, it seems that the meeting with prosecutors reassured them.

“At the meeting, we found out that proceedings had been launched, which we were particularly pleased about, and the one obstacle in dealing with the cases is UNMIK, who have failed to arrest those individuals accused of war crimes,“ says association general secretary, Nataša Šcepanovic.

Vekaric said that association representatives were familiar with the prosecution’s work in particular cases, stating that their wish to reveal the truth behind events in Kosovo was legitimate and justified.

“We want all crimes to be processed in Serbia, or in Kosovo,“ said Vekaric, adding that it was worrying that those suspected of kidnapping and murder were freely walking the streets of Kosovo.

The Association of Hostages and Murdered Serbs in Kosovo has hired Borivoj Borovic’s legal firm, who will in future communicate with the prosecution.

Both the families and the prosecution expect all documents to be brought together in one place to help uncover the truth and bring the culprits to justice.

A General’s Life is Tough
SENSE
November 9, 2007

In the cross-examination of Andrew Pringle, prosecution military expert, accused Slobodan Praljak argued that ‘what is written on paper’ does not reflect the actual situation in the field, and that high-ranking HVO officers were not able to control their subordinate officers and troops. The witness agreed that ‘life was tough’, noting, however, that it was the duty of every commander to make sure his orders were obeyed

In the cross examination of Andrew Pringle, prosecution military expert, the defense of the six former Herceg Bosna leaders argued that the HVO commanders ‘were not able’ to control their subordinate officers and troops during the Croat-Muslim conflict in 1993.

‘You can put anything you want on paper’, the accused Praljak said, commenting on the witness's opinion that there was a ‘firm and functional military system’ in place in Herceg Bosna, based on the doctrine of the former JNA and clear legislation regulating the sanctions for those who committed crimes. It is impossible to draw proper conclusions about what was going on in the filed from what was written on paper, Praljak contends.

In response to those comments, the British general quoted George Patton, the famous US Army general, who said that ‘it is easy to give order, much harder to make sure they are carried out’. After General Praljak showed him some documents in which high-ranking HVO officers order that Geneva Conventions and international law of war are to be complied with, the witness noted it was the duty of every military commander to make sure his orders are carried out.

Noting he was not ‘an expert for the HVO’, the witness didn’t want to make any specific assessments of those documents. ‘If you mean to say that life was tough,’ he told Praljak, ‘I can agree with that’.

As the cross-examination continued, Praljak had to mention that General Patton, who was quoted extensively by the witness, saw his military career end after he slapped a wounded soldier in hospital. This was precisely because the general’s conduct was contrary to the military rules that must be obeyed, the witness replied.

Milivoj Petkovic’s defense stated it agreed fully with all the claims made in the military expert’s report. It was ‘logical and universal and showed common sense’, the defense went on to say, calling for four times as much time as had initially been allotted to it for the cross-examination. The Trial Chamber dismissed the request. Defense counsel Vesna Alaburic noted she was denied the right to cross-examine the witness. In an hour she had, she brought to the fore the ‘broader context’ of the order issued on 30 June 1993 to arrest Muslim soldiers in HVO ranks and to detain all Muslims of military age in Herceg Bosna. She repeated the defense argument that this order was the consequence of the ‘betrayal’ on the part of the Muslims in HVO ranks.

RUPERT SMITH: ‘BAD ASSESSMENT’ OF THE SREBRENICA SITUATION
SENSE
November 9, 2007

Former UNPROFOR commander Rupert Smith continues his evidence at the trial of Bosnian Serb military and police officers charged with genocide and other crimes in Srebrenica and Zepa in July 1995. According to him, the situation in the enclaves was ‘badly assessed’. The prevailing view was that Mladic only intended to ‘narrow the territory’ of the protected zone

Between early July 1995, when the VRS launched its attack on Srebrenica and late July – when the other UN protected enclave fell – General Rupert Smith, UNPROFOR commander in BH, held a number of meetings with the high-ranking military and political leaders of both the BH Federation and Republika Srpska.

The British general was on a leave of absence when Srebrenica fell and during the aftermath of the fall. He was recalled from the leave, but not because of the attacks on the enclave but in order to meet with the UN Secretary General in Geneva. The purpose of the meeting was to prepare a report on the UNPROFOR activities. According to Smith, who is testifying at the trial of the RS military and police officers charged with the crimes in Srebrenica and Zepa, the situation in the enclave was ‘badly assessed’. The prevailing view was that ‘the fighting was over just one road’ targeted by the BH Army and that Mladic only intended to ‘narrow just a little the territory’ of the protected zone.

The meetings with the political and military leadership of both factions followed, including a meeting with Slobodan Milosevic and Ratko Mladic in Belgrade on 15 July 1995. It had been organized at the initiative of Carl Bildt, the EU representative for the former Yugoslavia. As Smith recounted, the meeting was ‘the consequence of the situation in Srebrenica and the goal was to find a modus operandi with the Bosnian Serbs’. The only result of the meeting: another meeting was scheduled and an agreement was reached to withdraw the Dutch UNPROFOR Battalion from Srebrenica.

The news of the crimes committed after the fall of the enclave hadn’t yet reached the UN command in Sarajevo, Smith claims, and his actions were soon focused on the situation in Zepa, taken by the VRS on 17 July 1995.

Smith negotiated with Mladic and other VRS General Staff officers, primarily with Tolimir and Gvero. The main topic was taking care of the population and the UN troops deployed in Zepa. The population of Zepa was evacuated in late July but the British general continued to meet with the Bosnian Serb political and military leaders until September 1995. When Karadzic and Mladic were charged with war crimes in July 1995, Smith asked for instructions whether to continue talking to them. He was given the green light. The explanation was that ‘other people are taking care of that’.

General Smith ended his evidence on the facts and will continue to testify as a military expert.

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The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

Official Website

Mihaljevic Released from Custody
BIRN
November 9, 2007

The Trial Chamber approved Defence request for Zdravko Mihaljevic to be released from custody.

At the trial of Zdravko Mihaljevic, a former member of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) charged with crimes against humanity committed in Kiseljak municipality, the Trial Chamber has approved a Defence request for the indictee to be released from custody.

Mihaljevic, former commander of the "Maturice" Squad with HVO, is charged with having participated in the attack on Tulice village near Kiseljak on June 12, 1993.

The indictment alleges that, on that occasion Mihaljevic and a few more members of his squad killed seven people and took the other village residents to the barracks in Kiseljak, where they were held in inhumane conditions.

Defence attorney Dusan Tomic, asking the Trial Chamber to allow his client to defend himself while on bail, said: "Zdravko has been held in custody for more than a year now, only because of the possibility that he may influence the witnesses.

"We consider that, after all the Bosniak witnesses from Tulice have been examined, the reason for keeping him in custody is no longer valid," he said, adding that it was very important to notice that Mihaljevic "came to the court voluntarily".

Mihaljevic has been held in custody since his surrender on August 3, 2006.

Tomic criticised the prosecution for allegedly "not doing anything to find the accessories". He also added that some accessories whose names are mentioned in the indictment had even appeared before the Court of BiH, and the prosecution staff "did not say a word".

Four defence witnesses testified at the hearing today, including brothers Dragan and Mijo Simic. The prosecution indicated in the indictment that the two of them took Ibrahim Jahic, as per an order given by Mihaljevic, to Tulice village on June 12, 1993. Jahic has been missing since then.

The Simic brothers told the Trial Chamber that they never got any orders from Mihaljevic and that they did not participate in the acts described in the indictment. Mijo said that, on June 12, 1993, he was "on duty" outside Lepenica village, while Dragan saw a truck full of people passing by his house in Lepenica. The prosecution did not have any questions for these witnesses.

Witness Selver Bajraktarevic was captured in Tulice on June 12, 1993. He claims to have been taken, together with his brother Avdija and a few neighbours, to the barracks in Kiseljak, as per an order given by "a man with a stocking pulled over his head". The witness said that Ibrahim Jahic was taken off the truck on their way to Kiseljak. Bajraktarevic said he did not see the Simic brothers on that day.

Forth witness Avdija Bajraktarevic confirmed that his brother and Ibrahim Jahic were together when arrested by HVO. He said that the last time he saw Jahic he was with Vlatko Trogrlic.

The prosecution considers that Vlatko Trogrlic was an accessory in the attack on Tulice village conducted in June 1993.

The trial is due to continue on November 29, 2007.

Acquittal of Zoran Jankovic confirmed
Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
November 8, 2007

The Appellate Panel of Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has has confirmed the Trial Panel's verdict in the case of Zoran Jankovic, refusing as unfounded appeals filed by the Prosecutor's Office of BiH and confirming the Trial Panel's verdict of 19 June 2007.

The Trial Panel acquitted Zoran Jankovic of the charge that, on 29 April 1992, together with the commander of the Artillery Unit of the Army of the so-called Serb Republic of BiH and members of paramilitary formations in the village of Osmaci, he captured a group of Bosniak civilians, participated in the killing of 36 and wounding of 3 persons from this group, and in setting the corpses of dead victims on fire. The Accused was also acquitted of participating in the forced removal of captured civilians following an attack on Šeher and Like villages, Kalesija Municipality on 27 May 1992.

Srebrenica Trial Opens in Bosnia
BIRN Justice Report
November 8, 2007

Sarajevo _ A former Bosnian Serb officer has gone on trial before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for genocide committed against Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995.

Milorad Trbic, who was assistant commander for security of the Zvornik Brigade of the Bosnian Serbs’ army, VRS, is accused of having participated in the murders of over 7,000 Bosniak (Muslim) men after the UN enclave fell to Serbian forces in July 1995.

Trbic’s trial is the second case involving genocide in the UN-designated “safe area” of Srebrenica to have come before the war crimes chamber of the Court of Bosnia.

In his introductory remarks on Thursday, international prosecutor Kwai Hong Ip referred to the suffering of civilians in that city as "a tragedy known in the whole world as the Srebrenica tragedy".

"We are here to prove one man's role in that tragedy," the prosecutor said, adding that the prosecution's evidence would be divided into three main groups.

"The first group will contain the indictee's statements in which he admitted to have personally committed at least 55 murders in the period from July 13 to July 18, 1995”, Kwai Hong Ip said.

“We shall then also present testimonies of people who saw Trbic at the two detention and execution locations, as well as some documents written at the time when the indictee was the officer on duty in the Bratunac Brigade Headquarters on July 16, 1995", he explained.

According to Kwai Hong Ip, the prosecution intends to prove that "the indictee knew that a systematic execution of men was underway", and carried out his tasks in order to ensure that the executions were performed in a more efficient way.

The prosecutor said he intended to complete the presentation of evidence by February next year.

The first witnesses are due to testify on November 27.

Trbic's defence lawyer, Milan Trbojevic, did not make any introductory remarks.

Trbic was originally charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, together with seven military and police officers from the Bosnian Serb Republic, RS, who are currently on trial in The Hague.

His case was referred by the Tribunal to the Court of Bosnia in June 2007.

Another trial for genocide committed in Srebrenica, involving 11 former members of the RS Special Police Forces and the VRS is underway before the Court.

Bosnia police arrest Serb for 1995 war crime
Reuters
By by Maja Zuvela; Editing by Ellie Tzortzi
November 7, 2007

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnian police on Wednesday arrested a retired Serb general suspected of taking part in a 1995 shelling that killed 71 people and wounded dozens in the northern town of Tuzla, the prosecutor's office said.

"Novak Djukic, 52, was arrested in the area of ... Banja Luka and will be delivered during the day to the prosecutor's office in charge of the case," it said in a statement.

Djukic allegedly took part in one of most notorious war crimes of the 1992-95 war between Bosnia's Serbs, Croats and Muslims.

A single artillery shell, fired from Serb mountain positions west of Tuzla, slammed into a group of youngsters in the town's central square. Most of the dead and wounded were between 18 and 25 years old. The youngest casualty was a three-year-old boy, hit while in the arms of his father.

The case will be handled by Bosnia's war crimes court, set up to take over some of the workload of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

It is currently handling low and mid-level cases as the Hague-based court plans to wind down by 2010. About two dozen suspects are being tried or are awaiting trial at the state court in Sarajevo.

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International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

Official Website of the ICTR

Don't Extradite' Rwanda Suspects
BBC News
November 2, 2007

Amnesty International has called on all governments not to transfer suspects of the 1994 genocide to Rwanda for trial.

There are serious concerns about the ability of the country's justice system to try them fairly and impartially, the human rights group said.

In June, Rwanda abolished the death penalty which it hoped would enable countries that object to capital punishment to extradite suspects.

The Rwanda tribunal based in Tanzania has since asked to transfer a case.

If it's about protecting victims and witnesses, that is a test we have already passed and need no more lessons Martin Ngoga Rwanda's prosecutor general.

The most high-profile genocide cases are being tried by the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha.

Since 1997 the ICTR has convicted 28 people and acquitted five and frustrated at its slow process, Rwanda wants suspects transferred to face trail at home.

Some 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates were slaughtered during the country's 100-day genocide in 1994.

'More time'

Amnesty also urged the ICTR not to transfer any of its cases to Rwanda until the government can demonstrate that trials would be conducted in accordance with international standards.

Rwanda had to do more to guarantee the protection of all victims and witnesses, it said.

But Rwanda rejected Amnesty's objections.

Some 12,000 local gacaca courts have been used in Rwanda to speed up the process of bringing those responsible for the genocide to justice.

"If it's about protecting victims and witnesses, that is a test we have already passed and need no more lessons," Rwanda's Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga told Reuters news agency.

Rwandan Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that Rwanda had tried more genocide suspects than any other country, and that thousands of people had been acquitted.

He said that although Rwanda's prison system was not perfect, the prison population had decreased from over 200,000 in the year following the genocide to around 60,000 today.

Amnesty's Africa programme director Erwin van der Borght said the group fully supported "the development of the national justice system in Rwanda".

"But until we are satisfied that all the criteria necessary for fair and impartial trials are met, we urge the ICTR and national governments to refuse to transfer any cases to Rwanda," he said.

"The ICTR should inform the UN Security Council that they need more time and resources to complete their caseload, instead of seeking to transfer cases to a system where there is a risk of torture and unfair trial."

The ICTR is due to complete its work by 2010.

Rwanda Scoffs at Amnesty claims
The New Times
By Edwin Musoni
November 3, 2007

KIGALI - Rwanda has strongly denounced yesterday’s statement by Amnesty International (AI) which urged governments worldwide not to transfer Genocide fugitives to Rwanda for trial. The rights’ organisation also called on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to halt its plans to transfer to Rwanda Genocide suspects it will not have prosecuted by the time its mandate runs out next year.

‘Despite improvements in the Rwandan justice system…serious concerns remain about its ability to investigate and prosecute crimes related to the 1994 Genocide fairly and impartially, in accordance with international standards of justice,’ AI claimed in the statement.

However, the government scoffed at Amnesty’s suggestions, saying the country was more experienced in handling Genocide cases than anybody else.

osecutor General, Martin Ngoga said yesterday the rights watchdog used illegal procedure to air out its concerns.

“Amnesty should have forwarded an application to courts instead of issuing a press release; the methodology is very clear,” Ngoga said.

He added that AI’s arguments are aimed at upholding the culture of impunity, which was partly responsible for the 1994 Genocide that claimed at least a million people.

Ngoga who addressed a press conference at his office in Kimihurura said Kigali and its partners would go ahead to push for the arrests and extradition of Genocide suspects.

He accused AI of agitating for impunity.

He said he strongly believed that ICTR and other countries cannot fail to extradite the suspects because of the ‘unfounded’ claims.

“If there is any country that may attempt to go by their (Amnesty’s) opinion, then we would miss out very very few cases or may be none; every country knows the legal procedure of extradition, a mere press release can totally do nothing in changing legal procedures,” he said.

In its release, the London-based rights group said that there were still serious concerns about Rwanda’s ability to investigate and prosecute crimes relating to the 1994 atrocities both fairly and impartially.

“There is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that the rights of both the accused and the victims will be fully respected and protected by these courts,” Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme, said in the statement.

The release also states in part that ‘various governments where suspects reside should immediately start proceedings in their own courts applying universal jurisdiction laws to investigate and, where there is sufficient admissible evidence, prosecute the horrific crimes committed during the Genocide on behalf of both the Rwandan people and the international community.’

Borght that countries without universal jurisdiction laws allowing for prosecutions should enacted them immediately. Amnesty said that ICTR should not transfer any of its cases to Rwanda until the Rwandan government can demonstrate that it can and will conduct trials fairly and impartially and that all victims and witnesses will be protected.

“Until we are satisfied that all the criteria necessary for fair and impartial trials are met, we urge the ICTR and national governments to refuse to transfer any cases to Rwanda,” Borght said.

However, the ICT Prosecutor Bubacar Jallow has already approved Rwanda’s readiness to handle ICTR cases.

Last month, Jallow was last in the country and visited a new detention centre in Gitarama (in Southern Province) where ICTR transferees will be detained from.

He also visited a transit centre at Kigali Central Prison for the ICTR suspects.

Over the years, Rwanda has built its necessary human capacity to handle Genocide cases, resulting in thousands of cases being completed in a short period.

Since being set up in 1994, ICTR has completed 34 trials, convicted 28 people and acquitted five.

The court has 29 trials under way with six pending and it has transferred one case to the Hague, Netherlands.

Several countries are in the process of extraditing Genocide suspects to Rwanda.

Court sets Ntawukuriryayo Extradition Case for Nov. 7
The New Times
October 29, 2007

PARIS – The Court of Appeal of Paris will hear the extradition request of a former Rwandan sub-prefect, Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, on November 7.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) filed the request to have Ntawukuriryayo extradited and face trial for Genocide related crimes.

A week before, on 31 October, it will have rendered a decision on his request for release. Ntawukuriryayo was arrested on October 16 in France at the request of the ICTR.

During the hearing, the president of the investigative chamber, Edith Boizette, proceeded to the formal notification of the charges of “Genocide, complicity to Genocide” retained by the ICTR against the former sub-prefect of Gisagara (southern Rwanda).

He is accused of being responsible for the deaths of 25, 000 persons between 21 April and 25 April 1994. Ntawukuriryayo, born in 1942 in Gisagara, arrived in France in 1999 and to reside in Carcassonne (Aude) since 2000.

His lawyer, Thierry Gréciano, specified that his client was legally in France. A group of twenty people, members of his family and friends, went to the court to show their support for him. He was arrested under the terms of an arrest warrant issued by the ICTR.

In April 2006, 32 Rwandan nationals pressed charges in Carcassonne against Ntawukuriryayo for Genocide and complicity to Genocide.

An order of non-receivability was rendered in August due to the reason that the police had not found him at the address indicated by the plaintiffs.

In a letter addressed at the beginning of the week to the Attorney General of the Court of Appeal of Montpellier (Hérault), the lawyers for the plaintiffs, Sophie Dechaumet and Michel Laval, assured that Ntawukuriryayo was arrested on October 16 in Carcassonne ‘at the residence mentioned in the complaint’ of 2006.

Rwanda: ICTR/Mandate – Could the ICC Replace the ICTR?
Hirondelle News Agency
October 27, 2007

Faced with all the difficulties which might come by the end of 2008, the end of the mandate of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), as 42 accused have not yet been tried, certain wonder whether it would be possible to mandate the International Criminal Court (ICC) to continue the activities of the ICTR.

The new permanent International Criminal Court exists since the Rome Statute came into effect in 2002. A score of judges have been named and await their first trial. Criticism on the cost and the effectiveness of this new international organization are starting to turn sour. Only two people until now have been brought before the Court to be tried.

According to Frédéric Casier, an official with the international humanitarian law section of the Red Cross of Belgium, but commenting on a purely personal basis, the ICC could not replace the ICTR for several reasons. Firstly, Rwanda did not ratify the Rome Statute, it is thus not a member country of the ICC. However, according to article 12 Â§ 2, the Court is qualified only to consider crimes committed on the territory of a member country or committed by a national of a member country.

Paragraph 3 of the same article allows for the possibility of a non member country of accepting the jurisdiction of the Court for a particular case, as the Ivory Coast did in 2005, but Frédéric Casier imagines that Rwanda would rather directly ratify the Statute, which it choose not to do.

The second obstacle, which is in fact the main issue and posed by article 11 of the Statute, is that the temporal jurisdiction of the ICC begins on 1 July 2002. It is on this date that the Statute received the number of ratifications necessary for it to come into force. The international court cannot thus prosecute crimes committed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

However, article 123 of the Statute of the permanent court plans to convene a revision conference of the founding text seven years after it coming into force, that is to say in 2009. There will be discussions about examining any amendment of the founding text. Could the Court then become qualified for crimes committed before 2002?

The Statute does not prevent such a modification. Questioned by Hirondelle, Martien Schotsmans, official within Lawyers Without Borders for its international and transitional justice program, "does not think that the member countries will reconsider the principle of temporal jurisdiction of the Court, that would likely create too many inconveniences". The procedure of modification of the Statute is extremely complicated because of the various essential votes to reform and of the imposed timeframes, he reminds.

But especially, reminds Frédéric Casier, the countries will not inevitably have the will to do it because that would call into question the principle of legal security. But in the affirmative, "which formulation will we give to the text? And which new date could be fixed for the jurisdiction of the ICC? ".

The continuation of a ICTR chamber, responsible for the judgments of Rwandan accused of genocide, in the ICC cannot be considered either because resolutions 1503 (of 2003) and 1534 (of 2004), of the United Nations Security Council, state that within the framework of the completion process the transfer of cases can not be made to national courts.

Then, the International Criminal Court is subjected to the principle of complementarity according to which it can only act if the national authority that normally holds the jurisdiction abstains or is in the incapacity to exert its jurisdiction.

However, Rwanda, on the contrary, has all the legal and institutional tools to try the génocidaires and has been using them for a certain time. Moreover, Rwanda has been asking and insisting that the international tribunal transfers its case to it.

Rwanda "has the means of facing this situation" estimates Casier. It is completely able "to try the defendants who would not have been by the ICTR". It would thus not be astonishing that it refuses that defendants of the genocide continue to be tried by an international court. According to the expert of the Red Cross, "the chances of legally submitting the case of Rwanda before the ICC are almost nil".

There, thus, remains only the transfer procedure planned by article 11 bis of the rules of evidenc