Editor,

RE: "Senate urges more efforts to track Genocide fugitives” (The New Times, February 13). Countries should close the safe haven granted to Genocide suspects.

According to official figures, DR Congo and Uganda top the list of countries that harbour most indicted Genocide fugitives at 254 and 226, respectively, followed by France (42), Malawi (42), Belgium 39, Kenya 28, Tanzania 25 and US (23). The others are Netherlands (18), Congo Brazzaville (16), Canada (14), Burundi (14), Mozambique (12), Zambia (11), Central African Republic (8), Cameroon (7), Norway (6), and Germany (6).

Of the 33 countries that received indictments for Genocide fugitives, only six have hitherto responded positively.

For the interest of justice, countries should close this safe haven granted to the planners and perpetrators of the cruelest genocide of the 20th century—the Genocide against the Tutsi.

They should be reminded that it is an international obligation that must be respected as ascribed by international legal instruments like Resolution 2150 of the UN Security Council adopted on April 16, 2014 which requires all States: to investigate, arrest, prosecute or extradite, in fulfillment of their international obligations to all other fugitives accused of genocide residing on their territory, including FDLR leaders.

Or the International Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (also known as the Genocide Convention) which states that "to deter people from committing crimes of genocide, those responsible for such crimes need to be brought to justice and to fight impunity and establish a credible expectation that the perpetrators of genocide and related crimes will be held accountable to effectively contribute to a culture of prevention”.

Granting safe haven to Genocide suspects is a kind of reneging on countries’ obligations and commitments, which should be stopped.