Genocide at NUR: 45 set to appear before Gacaca

HUYE - A nine-member investigation team which was set up to gather information on the Genocide that took place at the National University of Rwanda (NUR), has compiled a list of 45 people alleged to have been complicit in the massacre of the Tutsi at the university in 1994. Over 400 people who included staff and students are believed to have been killed at the university. Charles Kalisa, the Gacaca coordinator in the sectors of Tumba and Ngoma, in an interview with The New Times said that trials are expected to begin this week. “We have received the files of the suspects, they will be summoned and subsequently trials will follow,” he said. Of the 45 people expected to appear before the Gacaca court in Butare town, 35 have been placed in the first category- a category of planners and masterminds of the Genocide while the rest are in the second category. University dons and students are reported to have played a prominent role in the killings at campus and in the neighbouring community. During the Genocide on the university campus, rooms occupied by Tutsi students were targeted, with many of them being killed, on site while others were killed as they fled. Some staff members have already been tried and convicted by the Gacaca Court for Genocide crimes. These include; Marie Therese Kampire, a lecturer at the then Faculty of Political and Social Sciences and her husband; Dr Bernard Mutwewingabo including the then university vice-Rector, Jean Nshimiyumuremyi who was tried and sentenced in absentia. Gacaca Courts in the district are expected to close shop this month and according to Kalisa – the Gacaca coordinator in the area, this deadline will be met. “The speed is impressive, we are holding trials on a daily basis, we hope to complete by the end of this month,” he said. Ends