UN official in plea to Brazzaville over genocide suspects

The prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Hassan Jallow, asked the Congolese government on Thursday to strengthen its cooperation with the UN court to facilitate the arrest and prosecution of key suspects of the Rwandan genocide of 1994. "We need the international cooperation because the tribunal has no police to arrest people," he said during his visit to the Republic of Congo (ROC). "It's the national authorities who arrest them for the transfer to Arusha [Tanzania], based on our petitions." Jallow also lauded the ROC government for its long-time collaboration in prosecuting suspects who were involved in the genocide and who fled to Congo. "The Congolese government has helped us and facilitated our work," he said. "Since several years, the Congolese authorities arrested persons who were implicated in the Rwandan genocide. These people were transferred to Arusha where they wait for their trials." In 1995, the UN Security Council set up the tribunal, based in Tanzania, to try suspected participants in the genocide. The killings resulted in the deaths of up to 937,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, according to official estimates. Jallow said the tribunal was looking for suspects of crimes that were committed inside and outside Rwanda. Many of those responsible for the genocide fled to other African countries and to the West. ROC is among the nations that experienced a major influx of Rwandan refugees. Most of them are dispersed in the southern regions of the country. Some of them stay in an official camp at Kintélé, 25 km north of Brazzaville, where Rwandan Hutus, Tutsis and Twas are living together. The tribunal is on the lookout for civilians and military personnel, as well as politicians who allegedly organised the ethnic cleansing between April and July 1994 in Rwanda. "We have already processed 25 people," Jallow said. "Another 18 are detained at Arusha and will be prosecuted. The tribunal is looking for another 14 high-ranking persons. They need to be found before the mandate of the tribunal ends." That will be in 2008. Should the tribunal fail complete its work, Jallow said: "The national authorities must be ready to judge persons who cannot be tried by the tribunal before 2008. We have decided to transfer the dossiers to the national authorities." Jallow said the tribunal had the support of the current Rwandan authorities.