The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR): Seeking Justice for Victims or Imposing a Victor’s Justice?

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, is different things to different people. To some, it is merely a tool to assuage Western guilt for not doing enough to stop the 1994 Rwandan genocide; to others, the ICTR is a victor’s court designed to give a veneer of  
legality and legitimacy to the Rwanda Government’s one-sided narrative of the events leading up to and during the genocide – a narrative that makes a black-and-white distinction between the Tutsi victims on the one hand and the Hutu perpetrators on the other; still, there are others who believe that the tribunal’s mandate is a just and necessary one, i.e. to prosecute “persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994”. And there are yet others who view the court’s mandate and performance thus far in shades of grey.

Whatever their views about the ICTR, most people think of the tribunal in very abstract terms, i.e.,  a faceless and amorphous international bureaucratic behemoth chugging ever so slowly and unemotionally towards the fulfilment of its mission. Even though I have a good number friends, acquaintances and family working in the court as interpreters, translators and legal officers, etc., I must admit that I also viewed the ICTR in these abstract terms, that is, until last week when I had the privilege to visit the Arusha International Conference Center, home of the ICTR.

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Comments

[Legion(for we are many)]

Paul Biya should go to that court for what he and all the French have done and are still doing to our country Amberzonia.

[solice]

Not Republique du Cameroun
Not Nigeria

Ignoramus

[None]

When the united republic changed its name back to la Republique du Cameroun the Amberzonians have been waiting and watching. Asking Independence is not a crime. Why stay with Cameroon? We have gained nothing except economic down turn, 30% unemployment and poor infrastructure. Have you seen the roads in this country? Yet the ruling party still wants another go at it. A shame really. Just think of what we could achieve by ourselves. We could build a seaport in limbe, airports in major towns like Buea, Bamenda, kumba etc build power stations, better the living standards of the people of Bakassi and put their petroleum to good use , refine our educational system and increase our presence in the world market by better modernization of the goods we produce. We could be a major player in the region of western-central Africa. Theirs a lot we could do by ourselves. Amberzonia forever.

[Mallam Shehu]

Njimaforboy, when the time comes, you shall be acquainting yourself with the confinements of such tribunals. In modern times,there's virtually no way a genocidaire can stride around incognito. When the time is ripe, you shall be brought to book for incessantly inciting the mass-obliteration of innocent Cameroonians. Make no mistake, freedom fighter and terrorist are no synonyms.