14.03.07 - CTR/USA - WASHINGTON TO DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO ARREST ICTR SUSPECTS STILL AT LARGE

Arusha, March 14, 2007 (FH) – The American Ambassador at Large for War Crimes, Mr. Clint Williamson who made last week a two day working visit to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) promised that his country “would do all that it can” with regard to the arrest of suspects still at large, in a communiqué published tuesday on the Tribunal’s web site. Ambassador Williamson expressed “the willingness of the United States government to do all that it can to apprehend ICTR fugitives and to help the Tribunal to finish its work successfully,” the communique reported. “He reiterated that ICTR fugitives must face trial. It is crucial that Felicien Kabuga, Protais Mpiranya and other fugitives understand they cannot escape justice,” the text added. The billionaire Kubaga is considered a financier of the genocide while Major Mpiranya commanded the Presidential Guard (GP), the most active military unit in the 1994 genocide. In the course of this visit, the American diplomat met the principal resposnbile officials in this tribunal which must end all cases in Trial Chamber next year. After the ICTR, Williamson went to Burundi and Rwanda where, in the company of the Chief Prosecutor of the Tribunal, he met Monday with the General Prosecutor of Rwanda, Martin Ngoga, according to Radio Rwanda. The ICTR has until now rendered 28 guilty verdicts and 5 acquittals. Twenty seven accused are in trial, 9 are awaiting trial while 18 are still at large. At the end of the current year, it will have cost a billion U.S. dollars. ER/PB/KD © Hirondelle News Agency