EDITORIAL: Genocide: One day, Paris will have no veil to hide behind

Newly-appointed prosecutor of the Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunal, Serge Brammertz, has pledged to press France on Genocide cases transferred to its jurisdiction from the UN tribunal. Brammertz has assured Rwandan authorities and citizens at large of his willingness to exhort countries to help bring Genocide fugitives to book. In so doing, Brammertz will be mostly concerned with the most inconsiderate jurisdiction as far as the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi is concerned: Paris. France is not only liable for playing a critical role in the pogrom in which more than a million Tutsi were slaughtered, but has continued to scar survivors with negative attitude, maintain safe havens for Genocide fugitives and abuse justice whenever suspects have to be tried before its courts. It is in France that some of the most notorious genocidaires continue to walk scot-free, enjoy public life while being given all avenues to continue revising and denying the Genocide. But in Prosecutor Brammertz, survivors can count on someone who has pledged to visit several countries in the region and in the broader region on a mission to grab fugitives. His intention to meet governments with fugitives and suspects transferred for trial is noble enough as it passes the tenets of diplomatic quest for justice. A scenario where Brammertz convinces a few policy-makers across the world to rise up and bring the culprits to book would be good enough in peeling off a little more layer of the thick veil of arrogance that Paris has cast upon its conscience over the last 22 years. Even if Brammertz does not succeed in getting Paris to cooperate, his efforts will no doubt expose a few strands of the injustice that survivors have had to live with the 22 years now.

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EDITORIAL: Genocide: One day, Paris will have no veil to hide behind