Hungry for Truth, Peace and Justice

Rwanda tribunal 'ghosts' acquitted into limbo

By Francois Ausseill
The Harald Sun
December 17, 2009

THEY are known as the "tribunal ghosts'' as half of the Rwandans acquitted by the Tanzania-based court trying the 1994 genocide still haunt its corridors in limbo, unwelcome at home or abroad.

Of the eight Rwandans acquitted so far by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), four - including a former minister cleared six years ago - have made it no further than the court's corridors.


Two were cleared last month by the court, set up to try the masterminds of the mass killings 15 years ago by Hutu extremists that left an estimated 800,000 people dead, most of them Tutsis.

Although in theory free to leave, the court "ghosts'' - all Hutus -- are trapped in the north Tanzanian city of Arusha which hosts the tribunal, unable to return home to Rwanda for fear of reprisals and denied asylum abroad.

"`We found solutions for four only, and that wasn't easy. France took in two, Switzerland and Belgium one each, but it took an arduous procedural struggle in Belgium,'' ICTR spokesman Roland Amoussouga told AFP.

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Belgium's highest judicial authority granted asylum in 2007 to Emmanuel Bagambiki, a former official from southwestern Rwanda, a year after turning down a first request from the court.

The four "ghost'' acquittees "are still under the care of the tribunal and they haven't found a country willing to welcome them,'' said Amoussouga.

Nights are spent in a safe house provided by the ICTR in a leafy suburb of Arusha, and most days at the court itself.

They pass the hours leafing through books and documents at the ICTR's library, or sitting in on court proceedings.

Six years after he was cleared, Rwanda's former transport minister Andre Ntagerura is there near every day, in a spotless dark suit and polished shoes.

"For three years, we were actually leading the lives of prisoners. All our time was spent in the safe house. We'd wake up, they'd bring us a meal, then we would just kill time and watch Tanzanian TV,'' he told AFP.

"Since 2007, we've been allowed to visit the library. I split my days between here and the safe house.''

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posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 11:32 PM