The Gaunlet

22 December 2003


Rwanda Genocide Witnesses Murdered -- Example for Iraq?

As the preliminary idiocies of a show trial for Saddam Hussein proceed apace, friends of sanity might wish to suggest to those establishing this theatre of the absurd that some provision be made for the safety of the supporting players. More directly, if they want this trial to cause less harm than good, they need to make sure their witnesses aren't going to be killed on their way to testify. Yes, it sounds like a Clint Eastwood movie, but witnesses in the Rwanda genocide trials are being killed.

Unlike summary execution, a trial requires certain rituals, which included the made-for-TV confrontation between victims and their torturers. Saddam Hussein, however, does have a few still loyal to him, and if they are truly of the suicide-bomber mold, taking a few witnesses with them might be worthwhile in their eyes. What delicious irony, having survived decades of Ba'athist abuse, those brave enough to confront the Butcher of Baghdad may be slain on their way to the witness box.

In 1994, 800,000 Rwandans died while the world sat on its hands. Now, the nation has set up "gacaca" courts to clear the backlog of trials; 100,000 defendants are still awaiting their day in court. But the survivors group, Ibuka, says that witness/survivors of the murders are being silenced permanently. The group says one or two witnesses are murdered each month. "The ultimate reasons behind the killings is to block and scare away genocide survivors from testifying in gacaca courts," Ibuka told the BBC recently. "These killings are well planned and are targeting one section of people with an intention of keeping their lips shut."

In their desire to put Saddam Hussein on show, in their eagerness to cloak their revenge with justice, those staging the trial are accepting the responsibility for the safety of the witnesses. If any witness comes to harm (and the chances of that happening are close to even money), the stage-managers will be moral accomplices in the crime -- a crime that could have been avoided with a single shot to the skull, a life that could have been saved if someone in the 4th Infantry Division had killed Saddam Hussein as he came out of his hole. Even as a prisoner, the man can go on killing.

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