Regional
As Rwanda remembers genocide against the Tutsi 28 years ago, mass murderers roam free. Why the indifference?
On April 7, Rwandans will mark the 28th
commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi. It is time dedicated to the
memory of the more than one million Tutsi murdered in just a hundred days in
1994.
Nearly three decades later, there is still
inaction by some members of the international community towards responding to
the indictments of genocide fugitives who are roaming freely in various
countries.
There are two things Rwandans have never been
able to understand. Things that still pull them back to feeling the horrendous
experience of their past. The first one is how their loved ones were killed
daily in the full glare, and without the intervention, of the international
community. The second is how countries still fail to heed to the simplest call
to bring to book those who perpetrated the Genocide.
The Rwandan Prosecutor General has sent to
over 30 countries a list of fugitives. It is fully backed with indictments showing
the atrocities they committed. But only
a handful have been apprehended.
Rwanda has given countries harbouring the
fugitives two options; to extradite them to Rwanda or try them in their courts.
The fact that most countries were indifferent
to such atrocities is a sad reality Rwandans have learnt to live with. But how
majority of those countries chose impunity over justice to the genocide
fugitives who enjoy freedom and welfare packages in their countries is beyond
imagination.
It is a contradiction from the messages of
solidarity and sympathy expressed by the same international community in the
aftermath of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
The numbers are worrying.
Looking at the number of genocidaires still
at large - most of whom were granted asylum in Western countries often with
some social benefits - the question that comes to mind is; how hypocritical is
the world we live in?
The survivors of the genocide even wonder if
those who spend their time preaching about justice really mean it or are, instead,
in total pretense depending on where they stand on issues.
All over the world – ironically including in
Africa – there are countries that consciously host genocide fugitives and opted
to gift them freedom over bringing them to court or repatriating them to Rwanda.
Something is definitely off beam and
perplexing. African countries have the biggest number of these fugitives.
The total number of indictments is 1146. Of
these, 408 are in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 277 are in Uganda, France
has 47 fugitives including former First Lady, Agathe Kanziga, wife to former
President Juvenal Habyarimana. Malawi hosts 63 fugitives, Belgium 40, Tanzania
52 and Kenya 35.
The USA has 23, Canada 14 and The Netherlands
18. Norway has seven fugitives still at large and Sweden seven. All of them are
enjoying freedom and other social welfare packages. The list is long.
While each of the countries that host these
fugitives might try to come up with a valid argument, one thing is certain.
These host countries have shown total indifference
to the pain and suffering of survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi.
As Rwandans commemorate they only hope that
close to 30 years later, the international community understands its obligation
to help bring to justice all genocide fugitives still at large.
Justice delayed is justice denied.