Rwanda - The U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

An understaffed, unqualified, mismanaged, overpaid and bumbling UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is overseeing the genocide trials of a handful of Rwanda's slaughterhouse curators. As of mid-1999 there were only 38 people detained under the ICTR's custody and a mere four trials completed. Only in a little league atmosphere like this could any credibility be given to the defense arguments that the killing of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus was not genocide but "mass killings in a state of war where everyone is killing his enemies," as was stated by defense lawyer De Temmerman in his defense of notorious Hutu interahamwe warlord Georges Rutaganda. The Hutus claim that the massacres were a spontaneous uprising which they tried to prevent. Laughable, but similar arguments have won the release of interahamwe officers and continuances for monsters like Jean-Paul Akayesu, who is suspected of ordering the wholesale slaughter of Tutsis and encouraging Hutus to murder their own grandchildren, nephews, nieces and in-laws.

A UN report concluded the ICTR is dysfunctional "in every administrative area." The tribunal has a cash fund of US$600,000 but no written rules for disbursing it. The financing head doesn't have a degree in financing, accounting or administration. The procurement head has never bought anything for the UN in his life. Some personnel don't get paid for months while others receive duplicate paychecks. The prosecutors have decided the court makes a good forum for arguing among themselves. Of the court's 44 lawyers, 21 are from Europe, 12 are from Africa and 11 from North America. How bad is it for the boys in sky blue? UN Office for Internal Oversight chief Karl Paschke admitted in an understatement: "Justice (in Rwanda) has been delayed."

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In June 1999, ICTR judges condemned former Rwandan governor Clement Kayishema to life in prison after announcing a guilty verdict in his two-year genocide trial. Kayishema not only ordered the massacres of tens of thousands of Tutsis hiding in churches and schools in his area, but personally incited killers with a megaphone and sometimes fired the initial shot. During the trial, survivors scarred with machete and bullet wounds testified that Kayishema-formerly a medical surgeon trained in Europe-sliced babies in half with a sword. Kayishema is affectionately known by his "patients" as the "Butcher of Kibuye." Kayishema was found guilty of murdering Tutsis at Mugonero hospital, where he once worked, by luring thousands of Tutsis into the stadium at Kibuye with the promise of security. His prescription? "Shoot those Tutsi dogs!" he commanded his followers.