From 7 to 11 July 2008, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF) are running a training course in Kigali for legal advisers in international humanitarian law within the RDF and other State structures involved in the national application or implementation of humanitarian law.

The main bodies concerned are the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior and the national police force.

The aim of the course, which is the first of its kind to be organized by the ICRC in Rwanda, is to strengthen the capacities of the authorities and the RDF and to establish within them a permanent body of people who are qualified and able to assume the role of legal adviser in humanitarian law. The ceremony was hosted jointly by the military chief of staff and the head of the ICRC delegation in Rwanda, Tobias Epprecht.

In his inaugural speech, Tobias Epprecht said, “I hope that this training course will help to make the principles of humanitarian law an integral part of all aspects of military operations, and particularly of training and support measures for officers involved in planning and conducting actual operations.”

Pursuant to Article 82 of Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, legal advisers in humanitarian law have two main tasks – to advise military commanders on the correct application of humanitarian law and to give them guidance on teaching the rules set forth in those legal instruments to the armed forces under their command.

The training course is being taught by ICRC and RDF experts and is part of a long-term ICRC commitment to provide support for the Rwandan authorities in the process of adhering to the treaties of international humanitarian law. It is intended to strengthen their capacities to implement those instruments.

International Committee of the Red Cross  

The soldiers in the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) will be the first men to benefit from a government policy to use male circumcision as a tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS, according to senior health officials.

Early in 2008, the Rwandan Ministry of Health declared its intention to include circumcision – scientifically proven to reduce a man's risk of contracting the virus from an infected sexual partner by as much as 60 percent – in its HIV prevention programmes. The voluntary circumcision programme is expected to start in August.

"We will use the military as role models for the rest of the population – they are adult enough to give consent, and if young men see that soldiers are willing to suffer the pain of circumcision, they will also get the courage to do it," said Dr Agnes Binagwaho, executive secretary of Rwanda's national AIDS commission (CNLS).

"After the military we will concentrate on students and, finally, on the general population; eventually we hope to move on to circumcising new-born babies, as long as research proves that it is advantageous and cost-effective to do so."

Unlike many other cultures in the region, Rwandan men and boys are not circumcised as a rite of passage, so it is unclear exactly how many men are circumcised but the number is presumed to be low. Research is underway to determine the percentage of men eligible for circumcision.

Rwanda's Centre for Infectious Disease Control and Prevention, known as TRAC PLUS, is to conduct a 'knowledge, attitude and practice' survey in the army to determine the level of awareness-raising needed, followed by a similar survey among the general population ahead of national rollout of the programme in 2009.

"The survey will ask questions like whether or not they know what circumcision is, whether they can name its advantages or disadvantages, whether they will continue to use condoms following circumcision, and so on. After that, CNLS will be responsible for information, education and communicating the message of circumcision to the public," said Elévanie Nyankesha, HIV prevention coordinator of TRAC PLUS.

"Our national public awareness campaign is due to start in July [2008] and will make it clear that circumcision cannot replace any of our existing prevention strategies – education, abstinence, faithfulness to a single sexual partner and correct and consistent use of condoms," Binagwaho told IRIN/PlusNews.

"People must be made aware that although circumcision is beneficial, there is still a 40 percent risk of HIV transmission, so they must know that it must be used in conjunction with another HIV prevention method, such as condom use," she said.
HIV prevalence in the RDF is estimated at between two and three percent - slightly lower than the national average of three percent. Intense prevention activities have been carried out since the mid-1990s, and barracks and military hospitals are plastered with billboards and posters urging soldiers to use condoms and be tested for HIV.

"We recently interviewed 70 men at one of the army's VCT [voluntary counselling and testing] centres and, surprisingly, it turned out that 55 of them had already been circumcised either for hygiene reasons, to prevent other diseases or because they believed it would improve their sexual performance," said Dr Charles Murego, director of medical services in the Ministry of Defence.

The circumcision campaign is to be rolled out gradually over a long period, because the 35,000-strong RDF could not afford to have hundreds of men incapacitated at the same time: "We will circumcise, say, 50 soldiers per week – it would be too dangerous to carry out mass circumcision in the army."

The RDF will also encourage former rebels undergoing disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration to undergo circumcision as they prepare to re-enter civilian society.

"We need to train medical staff – doctors, nurses and clinical officers – at our military hospitals, get the necessary equipment and then start the procedures," Murego told IRIN/PlusNews. The RDF has three military hospitals around the country.

Rwanda has more than nine million people, but only one doctor for every 50,000 people and one nurse for every 3,900 people, so increasing the number of medical staff able to perform the procedure is vital to the success of the programme. Nyankesha said doctors who had recently received training in Zambia would start training local practitioners at district level.

The circumcision programme will be funded by, among others, WHO and the UN Children's Fund, and carried out according to United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.

PlusNews  http://www.plusnews.org

She was taken to a nearby village and raped by 10 men. One of the militia leaders asked her to make a choice: become a wife or be killed.

She became a wife. Later, she learnt that her family had all been killed. That was in 1994.

Now 32, Mukandoli is struggling to accept that it is possible to forgive her tormentors.

"There is no reconciliation before pardon," she told IRIN. "If security for genocide survivors can be provided - and it is a big if - then we can hope for possible reconciliation with the killers."

Mukandoli is just one of the thousands of Rwandan women who suffered abuse during the 100 days of genocide when Hutu militias turned their guns and machetes on Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Rwandan scholars say more than one million people were killed between April and July 1994. Hundreds of thousands of women and girls suffered various forms of sexual violence.

According to AVEGA-AGAHOZO, an NGO for genocide widows, 80 percent of its 25,000 members suffered sexual abuse during the genocide.

Traditional courts

Rwandan officials, pushing for a long-term solution, initiated traditional “gacaca” courts to try some of those responsible for crimes committed during the genocide, and to decongest the prison system.

"Reconciliatory justice is an important stage in the eradication of the culture of impunity [and] in the process of reconciliation," Domitille Mukantaganzwa, executive secretary of the national authority in charge of gacaca courts, said.

According to the authority, the courts were set up because “classic justice didn’t meet expectations” - after five years, only 6,000 out of 12,000 suspects had been tried.

The 12,103 gacaca courts, manned by about 250,000 “judges”, elected by the local population, were therefore a strategy to expedite justice.

Mukandoli and other survivors are sceptical, however, arguing that the process does not offer adequate protection. Théodore Simburudali, head of the umbrella organisation for genocide survivors, known by its local name Ibuka, which means "remember" in Kinyarwanda, concurs.

The authorities, he said, were reluctant to arrest and prosecute all those charged with killing genocide survivors. Even those charged are released for flimsy reasons, he added.

"It is unbelievable to talk about reconciliation when the criminals are freed for the simple reason of having repented their crime publicly," he said.

However, Samson Gwakwavu, a 40-year-old perpetrator, who was freed by a gacaca court, insisted that the system offers true reconciliatory justice.

"It was difficult to believe that there could be a presidential pardon for such acts," he said while doing community service for agreeing to testify before a gacaca court.

Mixed views

Some analysts argue that despite the trials, genuine reconciliation has yet to be achieved. According to Anne N Kubai, a Swedish-based researcher, some Rwandans see the gacaca process as “victors’ justice”, which has not yet addressed the root causes of the conflict.

"As many Rwandans say, forgiving is an effort that one makes in order to make life liveable, especially since victims and the ex-prisoners have to live together as neighbours again," she noted in a May 2007 paper.

"Describing the experiences of living in the same communities, some survivors said that despite having forgiven and reconciled, they found it hard to look each other in the eye."

This assessment is echoed by Mukandoli: "The existence of survivors is still as a danger to the killers," she told IRIN.

Rwandan authorities, however, argue that the gacaca courts have worked well. According to the national authority in charge of gacaca courts, the process has involved 85 percent of the population, and helped alleviate suspicion.

By December, up to 761,446 people will have been brought before these courts - a much faster way of handling the backlog of cases in a manner that enables people to live again in peace and harmony.

"We believe that punishing perpetrators, honouring victims and rehabilitating survivors are the pillars of post-genocide reconstruction and the basis for preventing new genocide," Kamali Karegesa, Rwanda's envoy to Uganda, noted during the official mourning week that ended on 14 April.

‘War on Terror’ Ties with Sudan No Excuse for U.S. Inaction on Genocide, Says Africa Action

Yesterday the world recognized the 14th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. To honor the memory of the 800,000 people who lost their lives in this tragedy, Africa Action today called for new U.S. leadership to end the first genocide of the 21st century in Darfur, Sudan. Africa Action released several new policy resources on Darfur today, including "The Ties that Bind Bush and Bashir," a report exposing the 'war on terror' intelligence collaboration between the governments of the U.S. and Sudan.

"Despite a lot of high-minded rhetoric, the Bush administration has yet to make a meaningful impact on the lives of vulnerable Darfuris," said Gerald LeMelle, Africa Action's Executive Director. "More than one quarter of the way into 2008, the violence in Darfur looks just like that of 2003, and 80,000 people have been displaced this year already. Yet since the same men in the Sudanese government orchestrating deliberate attacks on civilians provide the U.S. with intelligence for the so-called 'war on terror,' President Bush refuses to make peace and protection for the people of Sudan a foreign policy priority. By speaking out on Darfur but refusing to act, he remains as complicit to genocide as President Clinton was in 1994."

This January, the U.S. introduced a new Special Envoy for Sudan, veteran diplomat Richard Williamson. Although this appointment brought much official fanfare, so far, Special Envoy Williamson’s energy has been concentrated in the wrong direction.

"Rich Williamson is trying to scapegoat the United Nations (UN) for the current catastrophe," said Michael Swigert, Africa Action's Program Associate for Policy Analysis and Communications. "This is pure hypocrisy on the part of the U.S. government. The UN depends on the will of member states. Lack of U.S. diplomatic and financial support is a prime reason the 26,000-person UN-African Union hybrid peacekeeping operation (UNAMID) is so far behind schedule. Rather than blaming the UN as an institution, the Bush administration should take advantage of the public spotlight activists have placed on China in the build up to the 2008 Summer Olympics. The U.S. must put strong diplomatic pressure on Beijing to stop supporting the genocidal regime in Khartoum."

To raise awareness and mobilize public pressure on the U.S. to exert leadership, Africa Action will hold Witnessing Genocide: A Forum for Reflection and Action, this Friday April 11, from 7:00 – 9:00 PM at Howard University’s Blackburn Center in Washington, DC. The event will celebrate the diversity of the culture and history of Darfur and Sudan as a whole and promote a comprehensive perspective that views the crisis in Darfur in a national and regional context.

For more information on this upcoming forum and the latest Africa Action resources on the crisis in Darfur, including "The Ties that Bind Bush and Bashir," please visit www.africaaction.org.

Africa Action  

As Rwanda marks the International Day of Reflection on the Genocide on 8 April, the authorities are being called upon to provide better protection for genocide survivors who receive death threats.

"The Rwandan authorities should put in place stringent measures to stop acts of atrocity against genocide survivors," said Théodore Simburudali, the head of the umbrella organisation for genocide survivors known by its local name Ibuka, which means “remember” in Kinyarwanda.

The authorities, Simburudali added, lacked rigour in arresting and prosecuting those charged with killing genocide survivors. He cited the killings of a number of witnesses and judges involved in the "gacaca" courts in different parts of the country by unidentified people.

The gacaca is a traditional court system established to prosecute suspects accused of minor roles in the 1994 genocide in an effort to reduce the backlog of cases in formal courts.

"The authorities sometimes argue that the cause of the killings is related to [other reasons], but this is looking for a scapegoat," he told IRIN.

At least eight genocide survivors have been killed in the last two weeks in different parts of the country, he added, but only one arrest has been made. The latest incident was the killing of a genocide survivor who was a student at Rubengera Secondary School, in the west of the country.

According to aid agency estimates, at least 800,000 people, most of them ethnic Tutsis, were killed in 1994.

A number of events have been planned countrywide as part of a seven-day commemoration between 7 and 13 April under the theme: "Let us commemorate genocide while fighting against genocide ideology and render assistance to survivors while working for development."

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has completed its water-supply project in Cyuga-Gihogwe, a rural neighbourhood on the outskirts of the town of Kigali. Around 22,000 people are now enjoying better access to vital drinking water.

“Thanks to this project, rural people now have access to water of an adequate quality and quantity. They no longer need to make long journeys every day to fetch it,” explains Tobias Epprecht, head of the ICRC delegation in Kigali.

The project was inaugurated today, at an official ceremony attended by Rwanda’s minister for the environment, water and mines, the head of the ICRC delegation, the managing director of Electrogaz (the national water board) and the district mayors, in addition to other local authorities and people from the neighbourhood in question.

Launched by the ICRC in April 2006 in conjunction with Electrogaz, this project has demanded an investment of over US$ 200,000. By providing a better supply of drinking water, it will improve the living conditions of people in the area.

The ICRC has worked with local authorities to set up water management committees in the neighbourhoods benefiting from this project, to ensure that the systems last. It has also funded training sessions and provided accounting equipment to help inhabitants run three rural water sources.

The ICRC is planning to complete three other water-supply projects in the east and south of the country this year. The total number of beneficiaries of these projects is estimated to be over 49,000 people.

In addition to bringing medical assistance, MSF has also been a witness of Rwanda's difficult recent history. The duty to speak out is a pillar of MSF's identity and became fundamental in the light of the 1994 events.

The international humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is closing down its activities in Rwanda after 16 years of presence. Its last remaining programme, providing medical care for people with HIV/AIDS in Kigali, has now been officially handed over to the health authorities, after a gradual transition of the activities for over more than a year.

MSF started working in Rwanda in 1991. Its teams initially provided an emergency medical response to populations suffering from the hardships of war, and in recent years re-focused their activities on vulnerable groups during the reconstruction period.

The diverse response of MSF has included assistance to displaced persons; war surgery; programmes for unaccompanied children and street children; support to victims traumatised by the conflict; programmes for improving access to health care; responding to epidemics such as malaria, cholera, tuberculosis, Aids and projects linked to maternal and reproductive health.

MSF's HIV/AIDS programme in Kinyinya and Kimironko health centres in Kigali was set up at a time when the country's resources were running short and the provision of therapy for people living with HIV/AIDS was virtually non-existent. MSF contributed to defining a response to the epidemic in this type of poor resources setting. More than 6,200 patients now receive medical care in the two health centres, and 2,700 of them benefit from anti-retroviral treatment (ARV). Among the people on ARV's, 10 percent are children, and MSF has developed an adapted approach for support and treatment for this group.

In addition to bringing medical assistance, MSF has also been a witness of Rwanda's difficult recent history. The duty to speak out is a pillar of MSF's identity and became fundamental in the light of the 1994 events.

"As a direct witness of the violence, MSF swiftly and forcefully denounced the tragedy unfolding in front of its eyes, qualifying the crimes as genocide, and denouncing the political inaction, particularly with what became a rallying wake-up call, 'You can't stop genocide with doctors!'", explains Sébastien Roy, MSF spokesperson and former Head of Mission in Rwanda.

"Our volunteers also looked on, powerless, at the assassination of hundreds of their patients and medical colleagues. These events have scarred MSF deeply. But over and above the denunciation and memories, it was essential to continue relieving the suffering of the populations, and remain at their side."

There are still needs in the country, particularly in terms of access to health care (since 2006, the health system has been based on a compulsory insurance which raises issues in regards to the population’s economic situation).

But the country's general and health care capacities have been strengthened and Rwanda has moved into a development phase, receiving help from numerous organisations and donors who provide technical and financial support.

As a humanitarian organisation, MSF's departure from Rwanda is therefore logical, and allows it to re-focus its activities to situations of crisis and lack of medical assistance elsewhere.

MSF remains ready to come back to Rwanda should a new emergency require it.

Amnesty International today urged governments worldwide not to transfer people suspected of crimes during the 1994 genocide to Rwanda for trial.

The organization released a memorandum outlining the criteria national governments and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) should apply when considering transferring people to Rwanda for trial.

Despite improvements in the Rwandan justice system in recent years, serious concerns remain about its ability to investigate and prosecute crimes related to the 1994 genocide fairly and impartially, in accordance with international standards of justice.

"The various national governments where suspects reside should immediately start proceedings in their own courts applying universal jurisdiction laws to investigate and, where there is sufficient admissible evidence, prosecute the horrific crimes committed during the genocide -- on behalf of both the Rwandan people and the international community," said Erwin van der Borght, Director of Amnesty International's Africa Programme. "Where universal jurisdiction laws allowing for prosecutions do not exist, they should be enacted immediately."

Amnesty International also urged the ICTR not to transfer any of its cases to Rwanda until the Rwandan government can demonstrate that it can and will conduct trials fairly and impartially -- and that all victims and witnesses will be protected.

In recent months, the Rwandan government has issued formal and informal requests to several governments -- including the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, France and Finland -- for the extradition of several individuals accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. In June 2007, the Prosecutor of the ICTR filed a request to transfer its first case to the Rwandan courts.

"We recognize the importance of Rwandan national courts taking responsibility for investigating and prosecuting persons accused of the heinous crimes that were committed in Rwanda during the genocide," said Erwin van der Borght. "However, there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that the rights of both the accused and the victims will be fully respected and protected by these courts."

In its memorandum, Amnesty International urged the ICTR and government not to transfer cases to Rwanda until it has been demonstrated that:

• the national justice system operates impartiality by investigating and prosecuting crimes by persons from all sides;
• all national trials are conducted in accordance with international fair trial standards;
• all trials of those transferred to Rwanda will be observed by independent experts with complete access to all parties and files;
• persons transferred for trial to Rwanda will not be at risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
• all victims and witnesses will receive effective support and protection from threats, intimidation and attack.

"We fully support the development of the national justice system in Rwanda -- but until we are satisfied that all the criteria necessary for fair and impartial trials are met, we urge the ICTR and national governments to refuse to transfer any cases to Rwanda," said van der Borght.

"The ICTR should inform the UN Security Council that they need more time and resources to complete their caseload, instead of seeking to transfer cases to a system where there is a risk of torture and unfair trial."

Consistent reports that fair trials guarantees are not being applied in the gacaca process, a community-based system of tribunals established in Rwanda to try people suspected of crimes during the 1994 genocide, undermines the whole legal system and raises concerns about the importance that will be attached to these rights by other sectors of the justice system.

To see a copy of the memorandum Rwanda: Courts must comply with international standards for justice with detailed recommendations, please go to: http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr470132007

More than US$50 billion of largely private sector investment has been pledged to develop Africa’s burgeoning information and communication technology (ICT) sector at a summit attended by African heads of state and more than 1,000 representatives from the industry.

This growth will help the continent achieve its ICT UN Millennium Development Goals three years before the target date 2015, the Secretary-General of the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Hamadoun Touré, said at the two-day Connect Africa conference in Kigali, which opened on 29 October.

The summit, which swelled from the 500 participants expected by organisers to more than 1,000 investors, and included African leaders and communications ministers, looked at ways of replacing aid with economic development through the growth of ICT.

"For the past 50 years of African independence we have been talking about help, assistance, and we did not go anywhere with that," said Touré. "We are well aware of one thing. No one will get rich from handouts and charity. That is why we are here: we are saying we mean business."

Delegates at the conference lauded the continent’s rapid growth in certain areas of the ICT sector and the investor confidence this has brought.

Africa has experienced inconsistent growth in internet capacity, but the use of mobile phones has exploded across the continent, providing an invaluable social and business tool for hundreds of millions of people.

According to ITU, there were just 16 million subscribers in 2000, but this figure had risen to 136 million by 2005.

The GSM Association, which represents 70 mobile service providers encompassing three billion subscribers worldwide, said its members would double the amount of investment in sub-Saharan Africa to US$50 billion over the next five years to extend coverage to 90 percent of the population.

Community mobile connections

"The mobile industry sees Africa as a major area for development in the next five to 10 years," Tom Phillips, GSM’s chief government and regulatory affairs officer told IRIN.

Phillips said the focus of investors would not be confined to Africa’s upper and middle classes, but extended to remote villages with agriculture-based economies.

"What we’re doing is developing programmes for shared village phone services where up to 500 people can have access to the same phone and have their own voicemail box and get connected with their family, get connected with business," Phillips said.

"Ultimately, it creates the employment, the economic growth and development that will bring that basic infrastructure of electricity and roads to people."

During the summit, industry leaders expressed confidence that Africa could soon boast world-class communications capabilities.

"We are not going to bridge the digital divide," Anthony Von See, the Vice President of Cisco Systems told IRIN. "We are going to leapfrog over it."

Cisco has set up networking academies across Africa to train men and women to work in the sector. Von See said development across the continent has been paralysed by a lack of trained professionals and the so-called ‘brain-drain’.

Africa – a new customer base

Companies stressed that their efforts should not be viewed as charity, but as aggressive attempts to open up new markets across Africa.

"We have seen time and again that once those fundamental investments are made, there’s a whole series of new customers that are potentially developed," said Michael Rawdings, vice president of Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential group, which, among other things, works to develop technologies and software for youth in impoverished villages in Africa and Asia.

Delegates warned that the biggest challenge was a perception among investors that African nations are plagued by insecurity and corruption.

However, the summit’s organisers, including the ITU, the World Bank and the African Union, said they viewed the sheer numbers of participants at the event as a sign that Africa had at last drawn genuine interest from investors.

"Africa," said ITU’s Touré at the conclusion of the summit, "is open for business."

Rwanda has dismissed as unfounded a claim by Amnesty International that its justice system was unsuitable for trying genocide suspects currently detained abroad.

Rwanda has always been keen to play a lead role in the prosecution of those suspected of taking part in the 1994 orchestrated slaughter of some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Delivering justice domestically, rather than leaving it to international and foreign courts, was seen as being key to calming tensions that have persisted 13 years after the genocide.

In a statement, Amnesty urged countries holding genocide suspects to try them themselves instead of extraditing them to Rwanda, whose courts it alleged were insufficiently fair and impartial.

“What Amnesty International is not offering is actual facts and evidence,” Rwanda’s prosecutor general John Ngoga told IRIN. “It’s just blatant allegations. We will continue to pursue fugitives, wherever they are.”

Ngoga said he welcomed criticism of Rwanda’s legal system but that concerns should be aired through legal channels that allow Rwanda to respond formally.

He went on to question the credibility of Amnesty’s claim that the ‘gacaca’ system, in which genocide suspects are tried by community courts in their villages of origin, was flawed. Ngoga said he doubted the advocacy group had first-hand accounts of misdeeds.

“I have been in charge of this process and I have no recollection of ever meeting anybody from Amnesty International,” Ngoga said. “I’m not even aware if they are represented in Rwanda.”

Rwanda’s administration turned to the traditional ‘gacaca’ system in 2001, when the country’s jails were packed with more than 100,000 genocide suspects.

“Consistent reports that fair trial guarantees are not being applied in the ‘gacaca’ process undermines the whole legal system,” Amnesty said in the statement.

Amnesty also urged the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which tries the most serious genocide cases in the Tanzanian town of Arusha, to request an extension of its mandate, currently due to expire in December 2008.

After Kigali abolished the death penalty in July 2007, the ICTR agreed pending cases would be transferred to Rwanda.