Rose Kabuye, the Rwandan Director of State Protocol, was arrested last Sunday in Germany. She is accused by the french justice, as many other Rwandan authorities, of complicity in the assassination of Habyarimana, the ex-president of Rwanda killed just before the genocide started.
What to make of it?
Well, on the one side, that's good news. For, if she is guilty she must face justice. If she is not, justice shall prevail and she will get to go home. Same for many other people all over the world, especially in Africa. There are many people in Africa right now who committed torture, killed thousands
of their people, stole their countries' money... "et j'en passe". They should be anxious and know that there will be a payback day... wherever they go. So, I am happy.
What's the other side then??
Well, on the other side the international justice seems to be a one way road. So far I have only seen "bad guys" from developing nations arrested in developed nations, not the other way around. Nobody seems to really care when a "poor" nation asks for the extradition of a "bad guy" from a "rich" nation (refer to Equatorial Guinea's case). Even when "bad guys" from 'rich' countries are convicted in 'poor' nations, they somehow manage to be jailed back in their countries or simply be released (Refer to Chad's example).
And so, I am sad.
(Photo source: AFP)
Posts
2 comments:
I've read an article about the arrest of the Rwandan official on Monday and I didn't know the story of the genocide. I read more and it seems to be really complicated, and even if the articles were giving good reasons for the arrest, I still have a couple of questions / worries:
- how sure can we be that the French judge has taken the good decision in this case? could he/she have the right information from Rwanda? How impartial was she/he?
- does France have the moral right to convict those people?
Understanding the Rwanda genocide is not an easy business.
About the French judge, he took his decision based on reports and investigations. But I can't tell you whether he is impartial or not. There has been political tensions between Rwanda and France since the genocide. So, it might be politically driven. Just speculating.
About the moral right, for some years now people have been convicted in countries other the ones where they committed their crime. It normal now.
By the way, weeks ago, Rwanda also issued a report on the genocide. And they said the will bring some French authorities to justice. Was it politics or real justice? I can't tell
Post a Comment