Annan's list of ICTR nominee judges one short of the required number

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has submitted to the Security Council a list of 35 judges to be nominated to serve as short-term judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), UN News reported on Thursday.

However, the list is one short of the minimum number of 36 required by the tribunal's statute.

In a letter released at the UN headquarters in New York, Annan said he would forward to the Council the list of nominees he had received from UN member states and observers.

In March, the Council extended until 15 April the deadline for nominating the ad-litem (short-term) judges to the ICTR after the number of candidates nominated for the posts - then 26 - fell short of the minimum of 36 that the Council is required to transmit to the UN General Assembly for final selection.

On 31 January, the UN General Assembly elected 11 permanent judges to the tribunal. The judges, whose terms begin on 25 May, will serve for four years.

The Security Council established the ICTR in 1995 to bring to trial the people responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which claimed some 800,000 lives. The tribunal, located in Arusha, Tanzania, may also prosecute Rwandan citizens responsible for genocide and other violations of international law committed in neighbouring states over the same period.