Kigali, UN tribunal move to mend relations

Rwandan President Paul Kagame and the new prosecutor for the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Hassan Jallow, pledged on Thursday to work together to speed up the process of bringing to justice perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.

However, both men side-stepped the controversial issue of whether the UN court would pursue members of the Rwandan army accused of carrying out revenge killings after the current government seized power in 1994.

Jallow, a former Gambian judge and justice minister, met Kagame in the capital, Kigali. He is in the country on a five-day visit in an attempt to improve relations between tribunal and the Rwandan government. He met with representatives of genocide survivors' organisations on Wednesday.

The government and genocide survivor organisations have criticised the Tanzanian-based tribunal for inefficiency and mismanagement.

Kagame fell out with Jallow's predecessor, Carla Del Ponte, over the issue of whether or not the tribunal has the authority to bring to trial senior Rwandan army officials accused of war crimes.

"Our mandate is quite broad, it covers everything that happened in Rwanda," Jallow said in response to reporters' questions on whether he would pursue the military officials.

He added, "We are still reviewing the current workload that we have before we make a decision as to what we will proceed with."

Kagame also gave no indication as to whether suspected members of the army would face justice.

"Let's give the prosecutor more time to settle as we accord him the necessary assistance," Kagame told reporters on the steps of the presidential palace following their meeting.

He and Jallow discussed the possibility of transferring some cases to Rwanda. "If that happened it would be very important for Rwandans to see justice being delivered from their home ground and especially feel part of the process," Kagame added.

Jallow said the tribunal, which had so far completed only 12 trials, would boost its efficiency by increasing the number of trial chambers in January 2004.

Five additional temporary judges were recently appointed to the tribunal to expedite the trials of Rwandans alleged to be responsible for the deaths of at least 800,000 people during the genocide.

"The President has assured us of his continued support and cooperation for the success of the tribunal," Jallow said.