Rwanda reaches deal to enforce sentences imposed by UN genocide tribunal

Rwanda has become the seventh country to sign an agreement to enforce a jail sentence imposed by the United Nations war crimes tribunal set up to deal with the worst crimes committed during that country’s 1994 genocide.

Anyone convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) – which is based in Arusha, Tanzania – and given a prison term can now serve that sentence in a Rwandan jail after the agreement was signed yesterday in Kigali.

Mali, Benin, Swaziland, France, Italy and Sweden have already entered into similar agreements with the Tribunal.

ICTR Registrar Adama Dieng, who signed the agreement on behalf of the UN, said the accord marked a milestone in cooperation between the Tribunal and Rwanda.

He said Rwanda had made significant progress in ensuring it meets the necessary standard of prisons to accommodate ICTR convicts.