The mandate of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) ends in December, with the court having spent Sh3.4 trillion ($2 billion) to try about 50 genocide cases, or roughly $100 million annually.
But while others, especially within the United Nations, view ICTR as a success story, there are critics who see the tribunal as a wasted opportunity, citing the billions of dollars used to finance its operations in the past two decades.
Some fugitives, including the prime suspect, Mr Felician Kabuga, who has a $5 million (Sh8.5 billion) bounty on his head, are still at large. Mr Kabuga’s whereabouts are still unknown, although unconfirmed reports say he is hiding in Kenya.
As the court winds up, its critics are questioning whether the hefty budget justifies the number of cases prosecuted.
Since it started trials in 1996/97, the ICTR has convicted 61 people – of whom seven are still on appeal – and acquitted 14 others, of whom only six have found host countries. Some trials have been relocated to Kigali from Arusha. The ICTR was established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 955 to try people accused of organising the Rwandan Genocide and violating international law in Rwanda between January 1 and December 31, 1994. It was officially headquartered in Arusha in 1995.
During an interview with editors from various countries earlier this year, Rwandan President Paul Kagame said: “Is the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which has used over $2 billion this far and convicted only 52 cases in 20 years supposed to be what meets international standards? I just get confused about this.”
President Kagame, who is credited with ending 100 days of genocide at the age of 37, but dismissed as a dictator by his detractors, further said: “You cannot be having hundreds of thousands of people with responsibility and you try only 50 something in 20 years at such a cost and then you are telling me justice has been seen to be done…But Gacaca has processed close to if not over one million cases and allowed people to settle back in their rural areas to live with each other.”
According to the ICTR’s Completion Strategy, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1503, all first-instance cases were to have completed trial by the end of 2008—this date was later extended to the end of 2009—and all work was to have been completed by 2010.
But that did not happen and the United Nations Security Council called upon the tribunal to finish its work by December 31, 2014 to prepare for its closure and transfer of its responsibilities to the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals which began functioning on July 1, 2012.
To Arusha city, the closure of the ICTR will be a big blow to its economy.
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