RWANDA.

New Genocide Support Programme

The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on 26 September launched a new victim-focused initiative to support survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The Support Programme for Witnesses and Potential Witnesses will provide genocide victims with legal guidance, psychological counselling, reintegration assistance and physical rehabilitation services. The ICTR programme will be implemented by five Rwandan non-governmental organizations that will extend the programme to various prefectures where the Tribunal has identified witnesses; it will also assist victims of sexual violence. Taba Commune was chosen as the site of the initial support programme because Jean-Paul Akayesu, a former Bourgmestre of Taba, was the first individual convicted for crimes against humanity, including rape, which the Tribunal ruled was an act of genocide. The initiative follows the opening on 25 September of a new ICTR centre in Rwanda's capital Kigali, to inform the general population about the progress of ge nocide trials in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania. On 30 August, Swaziland joined Mall and Benin in agreeing to provide facilities where war criminals convicted for their role in the 1994 genocide may serve their sentences. The ICTR Statute provides for sentences to be served in Rwanda or in any State that has indicated its willingness to assist the Court in this way.