21.10.09 - RWANDA/UN - KIGALI REITERATES ITS REQUEST TO SHELTER ICTR'S ARCHIVES

Arusha, October 21, 2009 (FH) - The Rwandan Government reiterated on Tuesday its request to take over the caseload of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, due to close its first hearing trials by the end of 2010, and to shelter the ICTR's archives, Kigali announced on Wednesday.

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At the end of a three days visit to Rwanda, the Deputy Secretary-General of the UN, Asha-Rose Migiro, met with Foreign Affairs Minister Rosemary Museminali and President Paul Kagame. ICTR was one of the issues on their agenda.

"Regarding the ICTR, Honorable Museminali appealed to the UN to support the transfer of the unfinished cases to Rwanda as well as its archives since these are part of Rwanda's history and legacy," an official press release stated.

Rwanda considers itself as the natural inheritor of the ICTR. The Rwandan authorities insist that sheltering the Tribunal's archives would be a critical complement to the genocide memorials erected in various parts of the country.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon submitted to the Security Council, in May, a report on the administrative and financial aspects of the ICTR legacy as well as of the International Criminal Tribunal for ex-Yougolsavia.

The Security Council has not decided yet where the international tribunals' archives should be kept, nor who should be their custodian.

Headquartered in Arusha (Tanzania), the ICTR is due to close its first hearing trials before the end of 2010.

ER/GF

© Agence Hirondelle