Rwanda should host ICTR archives, says University don

SOUTHERN PROVINCE HUYE — Prof. Anastase Shyaka, a prominent researcher at the National University of Rwanda (NUR) has said Rwanda has the sovereign right to keep the archives of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) when the court winds up its work. Prof. Shyaka, the Director of NUR’s Center for Conflicts Management (CCM), said ICTR records are part of the country’s history. He stressed that the United Nations (UN) court shouldn’t ponder where to take the archives when it closes its business. Talking to The New Times from his office on Monday, Prof. Shyaka, said, “The UN did a mistake to establish ICTR outside Rwanda. It would be a double mistake if they take outside Rwanda archives of ICTR.” The tribunal’s mandate is expected to expire by December 2008 but the UN is yet to decide where to re-locate its archives for future reference. Prof. Shyaka said that Rwanda should seriously continue negotiations with the UN to bring the archives to Rwanda. “We would be losing sovereignty over our own history and that would be wrong,” he said. Shyaka holds a PhD in Political Sciences and he has conducted research on several issues ranging from History to conflicts management. He is worried that many Rwandans will not have access to ICTR archives if they are taken to other places. “Many Rwandans are having problems entering in developed countries like accessing visas yet people from there can easily come here,” he said. “We are no longer in the 1950s when Belgium could take all archives, and whatever materials from here,” he added. The Director of the ICTR documentation centre in Arusha, Louis Ndiaye, said last month that Rwanda stands the chance to host the archives despite many applications from different online libraries and document centres. “I think Rwanda stands more chances of hosting it and deserves it,” Ndiaye was quoted as saying. But as Rwandans wait for UN’s decision, Prof. Shyaka said that the country could be doing two things to bring its history home. It needs to build appropriate infrastructure to host the archives and continue negotiations with the United Nations. “We won’t launch any war against UN,” he said. “The best thing is still to negotiate and not to give up at all.” He suggested that the infrastructure to host ICTR documentation be digital to help people from other countries access some of the archives. He observed that the UN is the right institution to help Rwanda develop the needed infrastructure. “It should have been UN’s responsibility to prepare where to re-locate the court’s archives for its phase-out. They can’t claim that Rwanda doesn’t have necessary infrastructure,” he said. Ends