New ICTR prosecutor takes up his post

The newly appointed prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Hassan Jallow, arrived on Friday at court headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, to begin his new assignment.

According to a statement issued on Monday from the tribunal, Jallow met with court staff - including ICTR President Judge Erik Mose and the registrar, Adama Dieng - to explain new policies he intended to put in place aimed at expediting investigations and completing trials by 2008, as recommended by the UN Security Council.

Jallow, from The Gambia, commended the work of his predecessor, Carla Del Ponte, from Switzerland, whose mandate expired on 14 September. On 28 August, the UN Security Council amended the statute of the ICTR so that as of 15 September, the tribunal would have its own prosecutor. Del Ponte will remain as prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

Prior to his appointment to the ICTR, Jallow was permanent judge at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. He had served as Gambia's attorney general and minister of justice from 1984 to 1994 and later as a judge of Gambia's Supreme Court. In 1998, he was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to serve as an international legal expert for a judicial evaluation of the Rwandan and Yugoslav tribunals. He also served as a legal expert for the Organisation of African Unity and the Commonwealth and worked towards drafting the African Charter on Human and People's Rights, which was adopted in 1980.