Friday, Sept. 2, 2011
THEN
On Sept. 2, 1998, the U.N.’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) issues the first conviction for genocide and crimes against humanity. The ICTR finds the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, Jean-Paul Akayesu, guilty of mass rape and killing of Tutsi people—an ethnic minority in Rwanda—during the 1994 genocide that cost the lives of 800,000 people. After years of conflict between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi, Hutu militiamen initiated a massacre, blaming Tutsi rebels for the plane crash that killed Gen. Juvenal Habyarimana, who was Hutu and the country’s president. Between the months of January and December in 1994, Hutu tribesmen armed with machetes slaughter Tutsi men, women, and children, as well as Hutus who attempt to protect them. The ICTR’s conviction and sentence of life in prison for Akayesu sets a precedent in international law for prosecuting those suspected of genocide.
NOW
Many of those responsible for the Rwanda genocide remain not convicted, with a large number of them having spread across Africa. The African nations in which they have sought to live have not made enough efforts to seek those responsible and bring them to justice, according to NGOs. Over the past 13 years, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has arrested over 70 individuals accused of involvement in the genocide. Those arrested include the former prime minister and senior military leaders. The ICTR has completed 32 cases so far.
