After the Operation NAKI

With twenty people arrested, fourteen of which have already been accused, ICTR is changing gear. However, the current structures and resources will not permit trying this many cases in an acceptable time period. This is of concern to the Office of the Prosecutor, but it is particularly challenging for the judges. The Price of Success

After the arrest of Georges Ruggiu, which occured five days after the arrest of seven other Rwandan individuals, the new Deputy Prosecutor promises that other arrests will take place. About 15 individuals were targeted by the operation NAKI (Nairobi - Kigali) which began on July 18, 1997. « Our searches continue » stated Bernard Muna, in an interview with on July 22, just a few hours before the former Belgium journalist of RTLM was arrested and three days before the real Arsene Shalom Ntahobali was arrested. The deputy Prosecutor could come back to the strategy that he established with Louise Arbour during a meeting at Dar Es Salaam, at the end of May, and to the undeniable success that the strategy brought. In fact, the general feeling is that the Prosecutor's Office now has a direction. This direction pertains primarily to the question of the « conspiration », a term used by Bernard Muna.

About Thirty Investigators to Replace

Bernard Muna stated, « In my mind, military structures, police structures and political structures were in place. As soon as there are massacres, a genocide, at the scale that we have seen, one has to wonder what the government did, the role played by its members, and why they did not protect the population. There was a structure and these individuals belonged to this structure. We have to know what people did during this period. Instead of targeting a single individual and investigating what this individual did, one must first question the governmental structures which were in place during this time ». These new guidelines have concrete consequences for the Tribunal. Whereas the Prosecutor can hope for a « healthier dialogue » with the Rwandan authorities, in the short term he must face the issue of renewal of his human resources. In fact, about 30 investigators who have been working until now in Kigali and who were paid by their respective governments (i.e., the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States), have left or will be leaving imminently. Although the replacement of these investigators by employees paid by the United Nations is planned, it is not known when these employees will be recruited. In particular, the number of individuals arrested and waiting for their trial will increase considerably as the result of the new arrests.

Appointment of New Judges

The events, which occurred mid-July and which marked a change in the history of the ICTR shed more light on the work incumbant to the judges. The slowness of the trial, which has been used as a criticism against the international judicial institution, and whether right or wrong, has been attributed until now to the Office of the Prosecutor, the defense or the administration. However, the last weeks in particular showed that the speed of the procedures could also depend on the availability of the judges as well as the means made available to them. In an interview with Ubutabera on July 23, the President of the Tribunal, Judge Laity Kama, indicated in this regard the possibility to augment the number of judges, as permitted by the statute of the ICTR. Already last May , while working on 10 trials, he stated that « the problem is that we are only six judges. We should, in the future, either increase the number of judges or elect temporary or ad hoc judges ».

The Aim of the Three Chambers

The second permanent court room is scheduled to be finished by the end of this year. In the meantime, a provisional court room should be available at the end of August. In the end, the goal would be to keep them all. « With three chambers, we could work faster » stressed the judge, specifying that he should shortly inform the Secretary General of the UN accordingly. Other arrangements could be taken regarding the progress of these trials. The President of the ICTR suggests that, ìIn the second phase of the Tribunal, I believe that the parties can understand that the Tribunal will become more demanding, without however infringing on the rights of the arrested individual, and we can ask them to be a little more diligent and avoid presenting claims, which, although it may be unintentional, have the result of slowing down the procedures. Simultaneously, the absence of the judges will have to be organized according to the hearings scheduled.

The Tribunal Under Observation

The Tribunal is still recovering after having been the subject of heavy criticism since its creation and the deep crisis that it went through less than six months ago. The new internal control mission is in fact expected to be in place in August. Laity Kama indicated, « The international community is observing us. We have only two years left, and we must finish the trials ». Being aware of the strong reaction that the first verdict will provoke, the Senegalese judge hopes that thehearing on the merits in the Akayesu and Rutaganda cases will be terminated before the end of this year. The Tribunal could then be deliberate during the judicial vacations scheduled for December 1997 and January 1998.