Rwanda.

The President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Laity Kama, has said its trials of persons suspected of involvement in the country's 1994 genocide are well under way. "I think we've accomplished a great deal when you look at where we really are in Arusha, the conditions that really confront us", he told reporters in New York on 11 December.

The Tribunal recently commissioned a separate courtroom in order to be able to conduct two trials at the same time. President Kama said there are 33 accused persons, as well as 25 detainees, at the Tribunal's seat in Arusha. "We are rather a victim of our own success because now we have to judge these people and do it rather swiftly, because everyone has the right to be tried within a reasonable time frame", he said.

Alfred Musema, a former Director of the Gisovu Tea Factory in Kibuye Prefecture in Rwanda, on 18 November pleaded not guilty to allegations that he brought armed individuals to attack the people who had sought refuge there, and personal involvement in the killing. Laurent Semanza and Jean Bosco Barayagwiza are charged with presiding over meetings to plan massacres of Tutsis and certain Hutus, distributing weapons, and organizing and executing the massacres. Mr. Semanza was President of the Mouvement Republicain National pour le Developpment et la Democratie in the greater Kigali area. Mr. Baragwiza was Director of Political Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Comite d'Initiative de Radio Television Libre des Milles Collines.

On 23 October, Jean-Paul Akayesu, the former Burgemeister of Taba commune, pleaded not guilty to new charges of knowing and facilitating the commission of sexual violence, beatings and murders of mostly Tutsi women who sought refugee at Taba Bureau commune between April and June 1994. On 30 May 1996, he had pleaded not guilty to 12 additional counts, charging him with genocide and other crimes against humanity.

On 16 September, the Tribunal extended the provisional detention of six suspects to enable the Prosecution to finalize its investigations and prepare indictments. The suspects concerned are: Jean Kambanda, former Prime Minister of Rwanda; Hassan Ngeze, former Editor-in-Chief of the Kangura newspaper; Gratien Kabiligi, former army Colonel; Sylvian Nsabimana, former Prefect of Butare; Aloys Ntabakuze, former Commander of a battalion in the armed forces; and Georges Ruggiu, former journalist on Radio Television Libres des Milles Collines. It was the third and final extension that the Tribunal could grant under its rules of procedure.

RELATED ARTICLE: Human Rights

A 16 October report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights documents a worsening human rights situation in Rwanda, marked by ethnically motivated attacks. During May and June, at least 2,022 persons were killed during operations of the Rwandese Patriotic Army, including a high number of unarmed civilians. "The continued detention of persons without trial, particularly in view of the fact that in most cases there is still no dossier setting out the factual and legal grounds for their arrest and detention, constitutes a major human rights concern", the report stated.

The Special Representative on the human rights situation in Rwanda, Michel Moussalli, on 22 October expressed concern about the "shocking" conditions of detention in some of the prisons and communal cachots he visited where many people are being detained without substantiated grounds for their arrest. He commended the Government for its cooperation.