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EDITORIAL
Justice under siege in Rwanda Justice is supposed to be blind. Taking that idea literally, though, may cost the chief United Nations war-crimes prosecutor, Ms. Carla Del Ponte, her job. Ms. Del Ponte is under attack by the Rwandan government for believing that her mandate is to prosecute all perpetrators of war crimes in that horrendous conflict -- winners and losers. Her audacity has earned her the enmity of the Rwanda government, and the U.N. Security Council appears ready to go along. Ms. Del Ponte deserves more support. History must not be written by the victors, and their crimes forgotten. During the 1994 civil war in Rwanda, it is estimated that as many as 800,000 Rwandans lost their lives, the majority of them Tutsis, killed by members of the Hutu ethnic group. The Hutus were eventually overwhelmed by Tutsi groups that reclaimed control of the government and the country, but as many as 30,000 lives might have been lost as a result of reprisal killings. Once order was restored in Rwanda, the U.N. established a war-crimes court to try to render some justice in the aftermath of the slaughter. Ms. Del Ponte was appointed to oversee the tribunal. That move made sense since Ms. Del Ponte, a former Swiss attorney general, was also heading up prosecution in The Hague tribunal, which is hearing war-crimes trials for the former Yugoslavia. Ms. Del Ponte's four-year term is up for renewal next month, and she has come under fire for the slow pace of prosecutions in Rwanda. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan reportedly will recommend that Ms. Del Ponte be replaced as head of the Rwanda tribunal, while retaining her charter in The Hague. Mr. Annan apparently believes that heading both posts is too much for one person. There may be something to the complaint. The court in Arusha, Rwanda, has completed 15 cases; 61 others are in progress. Fifty five individuals are being detained. Given that the court has 16 judges, more than 800 staff members and a budget of nearly $100 million a year, complaints of inefficiency deserve a hearing. Ms. Del Ponte has been blamed for being primarily responsible; her critics charge that she spends too much time in The Hague on the Yugoslavia tribunal, failing to give the Rwanda proceedings proper attention. But the real source of concern about Ms. Del Ponte is her readiness to hold Rwanda's Tutsis as accountable for their misdeeds as its Hutus. She has pushed for the investigation of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Army, which is thought to be responsible for the tens of thousands of reprisal killings that followed the Hutu uprising in 1994. The Tutsis managed to drive the Hutus out of the country, and their readiness to prosecute their enemies is not matched by a readiness to hold members of their own ethnic group to a similar level of accountability. They have prevented people sought for questioning from traveling to the war-crimes court. Ms. Del Ponte has charged that the government is blocking prosecution of well-connected individuals who might have committed crimes. They have been pushing to have Ms. Del Ponte replaced and Tutsi crimes turned over to national courts. The U.N. Security Council appears ready to acquiesce. Mr. Annan is genuinely concerned about the slow pace of prosecutions in Rwanda and is said to be set to recommend that a new prosecutor be appointed to handle those cases. The Security Council governments are reportedly ready to agree, although they are concerned about undue influence by the Rwandan government. Complaints about inefficiency are understandable. All war-crimes prosecutions are slow and require considerable patience. Similar complaints were voiced about the Yugoslav tribunal, but they have quieted as the court continues to jail and hold accountable individuals who committed crimes during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Ms. Del Ponte may be stretched too thin. But if she is replaced, the new prosecutor must have a clear mandate to go after criminals no matter what ethnic group. Hutus and Tutsis must both be held accountable for their crimes. There can be no victor's justice. Neither can there be a compromise of the U.N.'s reliance on impartial justice. It is hoped that the Security Council's readiness to replace Ms. Del Ponte is not a sign of its readiness to look the other way and accept the crimes committed by the government in Rwanda. The Japan Times: Aug. 13, 2003 The Mulindwas Communication Group |
