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Africa: East
Rwanda War Crimes Case Gets Prosecutor
2003-08-29
EFL
The Security Council voted unanimously Thursday to split the job of chief war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, allowing a new prosecutor to handle cases from Rwanda’s 1994 genocide while she focuses on the Balkans. The resolution, sponsored by the United States, sets out a timetable for completing the work of both the Rwanda and Yugoslav tribunals by 2010.
That's ummm... (divide by 48, carry the 2...) seven years from now. Talk about job security!
The tribunals "can most efficiently and expeditiously meet their respective responsibilities if each has its own prosecutor," the council said.
"And, of course, now Carla can screw up only one set of prosecutions."
Can you use "expeditiously" when you're talking about seven years? I might have said "leisurely," perhaps...
Since September 1999, Del Ponte has been responsible for trying those accused of major war crimes during the wars in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the leaders of the genocide in Rwanda that killed more than 500,000 minority Tutsis and Hutu political moderates. Many countries argue that the Rwandan tribunal, based in Arusha, Tanzania, has not made as much progress as the Yugoslav one. A variety of reasons have been cited, from bureaucratic inefficiency to friction with the Rwandan government, staff shortages and insufficient attention from Del Ponte’s staff, based in The Hague, Netherlands.
Not to mention French complicity with the Rwandan genocide, which Carla would prefer to gloss over.
And the fact that the hotels in Arusha just don't compare...
With Del Ponte’s contract set to expire Sept. 15, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended last month that she be given a new four-year contract to focus entirely on the Yugoslav tribunal while a new prosecutor is chosen to concentrate on Rwanda. Del Ponte had argued before the Security Council and Annan that she could do both tasks, but Annan stuck by his recommendation to split the job to improve efficiency.
Wonder what Carla did to anger Kofi?
Perhaps Kofi barked his shins stumbling over the obvious?
The Security Council resolution changes the statute of the Rwanda tribunal so it can have its own prosecutor and welcomes Annan’s intention to nominate Del Ponte to head the Yugoslav tribunal for four years. "The significance of this is that we’ve been interested for some time in improving the functioning of both courts," said U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham. Del Ponte is satisfied that the prosecutor’s independence "has not been challenged" and she "is available for a new four-year term," her spokeswoman Florence Hartmann said in The Hague.
"Oh, please, please, pick me! Pick me! I love the per diems! Oh, pick me!"
The Rwandan government lobbied hard for a new prosecutor. "This tribunal, the way it has been acting so far, is not about Rwanda, Rwandans and victims of the genocide," Rwanda’s Attorney General Gerard Gahima said after hearing of the Security Council’s decision. "We hope that the tribunal can at this late hour pull its act together and do a good job of what it’s been entrusted to do." Del Ponte’s office has clashed with the Rwandan government, notably over the court’s efforts to investigate abuses by members of the Tutsi-led rebels who stopped the genocide, took power and still control the government. The resolution calls on all governments to assist in the investigations of the Rwandan Patriotic Army, headed by President Paul Kagame.
Yep, sounds like Carla is playing the French line here.
The council resolution, adopted by a 15-0 vote, directs both tribunals to focus on prosecuting leaders and to transfer cases involving intermediate- and lower-ranking suspects to national courts. It urges both courts "to take all possible measures" to follow the timetable to wind up their work. All investigations must be completed by the end of 2004, all initial trials must be finished by the end of 2008, and all work must be wrapped up in 2010. The Rwandan court has completed 15 cases and has 61 in progress. It holds 55 detainees, more than half of whom are awaiting trial. Those on trial in the Yugoslav tribunal include former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Don’t worry, Slobo, they’ll get around to you.
Posted by:Steve White

#2  JFM - I think you've got the incredibly pretentious and self-aggrandizing Ms Del Ponte bracketed... Fire at will!!!
Posted by: .com   2003-8-29 5:49:52 AM  

#1  The truth is that Carla Del Ponte is going for the case who brings fame and is dropping the Rwandan ganocide because it doesn't bring fame. At the height of the Rwandan genocide (twenty thousand deads PER DAY) the papers were full of advertisements for NGOs operating in Bosnia and no-peep for Rwanda. Aftar all you don't want Mrs Del Ponte spend her precious time on niggers.
Posted by: JFM   2003-8-29 1:38:30 AM  

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