The Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ,Hassan Bubacar Jallow, will today present a report to the UN Security Council on the progress of the Arusha-based court’s activities 6 months before it closes shop.

Speaking to the press yesterday (Monday) Bocar Sy, the Chief of Public Affairs and Information Unit at the ICTR said; "the president of the court (Denis M Byron) and the chief prosecutor Hassan Jallow are in New York to present to the Security Council our completion strategy.”

Bocar also said that Jallow will inform the council about the progress of the court’s activities and, "whether the court is in line with its mandate in regard to when it will close.” He added that the ICTR president normally briefs the Security Council on the completion strategy once very six months since 2003.

In September 2007, the ICTR confirmed that they would respect their deadline of 31 December by which time the court is mandated to have finished hearing all its first instance trials except for one trial which the ICTR spokesman Roland Amoussouga said would not be finished before March 2009. The Appeals chamber of the court will proceed up to 2010.

Last week the court turned down prosecution request to transfer its first case to Rwanda, that of former businessman and militia leader, Yusuf Munyakazi.

Since its creation in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council, the ICTR has tried 35 people, 5 five of the suspects have been acquitted. By the end of 2007, the ICTR had cost more than $1billion.

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