In the next few days, we will begin commemoration activities to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, It had been a quarter century of trying to mend, piecing together whatever survived the storm. It is the tenacity of struggling against all odds that has informed this country’s survival. Many have thrown spokes into its wheels but have not stopped its march forward. But one thing that continues to elude it is giving Genocide survivors closure as many of those who took part in the Genocide are beyond its reach. Even though international justice did a bit by prosecuting a few figureheads, its officers also contributed to impunity. The immediate former president of the Mechanism of International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), Judge Theodore Meron, had a knack of throwing the spanner in the works by defeating justice. Not only did he overturn many convictions on appeal, but he was also granting early releases to some of the most notorious criminals. His successor, Judge Carmel Agius, wants to end all that and begin on a new slate and restore good relations with Rwanda, which had suffered severely under Judge Merons’s watch. While Judge Agius might not be able to reverse the clock and undo Meron’s handiwork, at least he has shown a willingness to mend the fence, unlike his predecessor’s show of disdain and contempt for Rwanda’s position.
