Dear Ambassador
Negroponte:
In 1994 soldiers of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) killed thousands
of civilians, in the process committing war crimes and crimes against
humanity. A U.N. Commission of Experts concluded that the RPA had
"perpetrated serious breaches of international humanitarian law" and
"crimes against humanity." The Security Council established the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to prosecute not just the
genocide that had devastated Rwanda but also "other systematic, widespread
and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law" (Security
Council Resolution 955, 1994), including those committed by members of the
RPA.
The government of Rwanda now opposes the prosecution of RPA
members by the tribunal. In confronting this challenge, the Security
Council should demonstrate its commitment to the equitable justice
essential for long-term peace in Central Africa by calling on Rwanda to
cooperate fully with the tribunal.
On July 23 the prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda reported to the Security Council that the Rwandan government was
hindering the progress of genocide trials as a way of pressuring her to
slow down investigations of crimes allegedly committed by members of the
RPA in 1994. The recent difficulties between the tribunal and the Rwandan
government began soon after the prosecutor announced that indictments
would be sought against members of the RPA. In at least two meetings with
high-ranking United Nations or tribunal officials, Rwandan President Paul
Kagame has privately expressed concern at the speed with which
investigations against RPA officers and soldiers are progressing-exactly
contrary to the official Rwandan government position deploring the
slowness with which the tribunal works.
The Rwandan government
suggests that the tribunal should try only cases of genocide and leave
prosecution of RPA crimes to Rwandan courts. It asserts that these courts
have tried, convicted, and punished RPA members who committed abuses. But
the trials have been few and the penalties of those convicted have been
light. Only one senior officer, a major, has been tried for massacres
committed in 1994. Convicted by court martial in January 1998 after
confessing to having ordered the slaughter of more than thirty civilians,
he was sentenced to life in prison, but he successfully appealed his
sentence and was freed soon after. By June 1998 five others had been
convicted of capital offenses committed in 1994, but four were privates
and one a corporal, and all received light sentences. The corporal,
convicted of having killed fifteen civilians, was punished by only two
years in prison.
Most Rwandans know nothing of these RPA trials or discount their
importance because of the small number and light penalties involved.
Victims of RPA abuses in 1994, their families, and many other Rwandans
continue to demand justice for these crimes.
The Rwandan government has just launched an innovative popular justice
program called gacaca courts, with the stated purpose of delivering
justice and contributing to reconciliation. Although the law establishing
these new jurisdictions mandates them to try crimes against humanity and
war crimes, Rwandan government authorities have made it clear from the
start that these popular courts are to deal only with accusations of
genocide. Despite such clear orders, Rwandans continue asking gacaca
courts to list those killed by RPA soldiers among the victims of 1994 and
they ask that these local courts bring implicated RPA soldiers to justice.
So far their requests have been in vain.
Rwandan authorities have told Rwandans, as they have told the Security
Council, that Rwandan courts will deal with RPA crimes. Had Rwandan
prosecutors wanted to try these crimes, they have had ample time to act.
They have also had ample evidence: RPA violations of international
humanitarian law have been documented by monitors of the field office of
the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, by the U.N. Commission of
Experts, and by Human Rights Watch and the International Federation of
Human Rights Leagues in various publications, including a detailed account
in Leave None to Tell the Story (1999).
In a response to the prosecutor, the Rwandan government concludes
correctly that the tribunal is at a crossroads and that its credibility is
at stake. But its credibility does not hinge on any of the improvements
suggested by the Rwandan government, useful though some of them might be.
It hangs rather on the full implementation of its mandate as established
by the Security Council in 1994.
Victims of RPA crimes have virtually no chance of obtaining justice in
any Rwandan court, whether military court or gacaca court. Failing to
provide them justice at the international tribunal as well will feed
resentment and desire for revenge, explosive sentiments in a region where
armed groups continue to operate in opposition to recognized governments.
We urge the Security Council to address the central issue, namely the
need for the prosecutor to be able to investigate and charge those who
committed the gravest crimes in 1994, whether genocide or other violations
of international humanitarian law. In this we are asking that the
prosecutor be given the same latitude to pursue the worst abuses by all
sides to the conflict as she has in the former Yugoslavia. By insisting
that the Rwandan government give its full cooperation by facilitating the
travel of witnesses and by providing documentation needed by the
prosecutor, the Security Council will fulfill its original intention of
contributing to justice as the basis for peace and reconciliation in the
region.
I thank you for your attention. HRW remains at your service should you
desire further background on this important matter.
Sincerely,
/s/
Kenneth Roth
Executive Director
Human Rights Watch
Cc: Permanent Representatives of the Members of the U.N. Security
Council
The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni,
Uganda is in
anarchy"
Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est
dans
l'anarchie"
