Agreement to accept Rwandan prisoners

Swaziland has agreed to open its prisons for genocide convicts from Rwanda, a move that will ease pressure on the United Nations to find suitable prisons for the prisoners. Media reports said Swaziland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Albert Shabangu and UN Assistant Secretary-General Agwu Ukiwe Okali signed the agreement in Swaziland’s capital, Mbabane on Wednesday. Jails in Rwanda have been crammed with awaiting-trial prisoners since the 1994 genocide and thousands of suspects are expected to be tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The tribunal - which has so far laid charges against 43 accused - wants the perpetrators of the genocide to be imprisoned outside Rwanda to prevent families of victims from exacting revenge. Shabangu reportedly said: “We feel that this is an African problem and would like to participate in the healing process.” He added that although Swaziland’s prisons are already overcrowded, the additional inmates would not cause the country too many problems.