Prison Break in Bamako

Here is the deal; if you Google Mali these days, here are some of the responses you’ll get from the most famous search engine on the web: “Mali militia to deal with Islamist militants “with or without the Mali army”‎, Six Mali groups unite with vow to oust Islamists from north‎, Mali Islamist rebels say $18.4 million ransom paid, prisoners,Northern Malis city of saints suffers rebel fury‎, West African Defense Chiefs Meet Over Mali Crisis‎, Crisis Continues In Mali‎, Why we should be worried about Mali‎, Mali crisis one of biggest challenges facing Africa‎, Mali Creates Elite Force To Protect Interim Leaders, Mali crisis one of biggest challenges for Africa‎”…There is so much to say about the level of chaos in Mali since the coup that ousted President Amadou Toumani Toure out of office. Why do I care, you may ask? First of all, because we all should as responsible citizens of the world, but mainly because Mali is the destination chosenby the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for most of the key genocide perpetrators. It boggles my mind to this date why the UN would confirm Mali, of all places, to send Genocide masterminds such as Theoneste Bagosora, Yusuf Munyakazi, Tharcisse Renzaho, Dominique Ntawukulilyayo, Aloys Ntabakuze, Ildephonse Hategekimana, Gaspard Kanyarukiga, Callixte Kalimanzira and many more to come…The UN has, indeed, confined the people who organized the slaughter and the torture of more than a million humans in the, arguably, ‘most chaotic place’ on the planet… a place where a mob can enter the Presidential Palace and brutalize the President with impunity... a place where you can organize a mutiny with four vehicles and seize the country… a place where institutions are only hollow words left without essence or consistency. Is it just me and my overworking mind, or does anybody else see this as the prelude to the African version of ‘Prison Break’, only this time for real? Is it really overstretching one’s imagination to foresee a villain like Kabuga Felicien, the official sponsor of the 1994 Genocide on the run for the past 18 years with the financial means and the necessary criminal connections, organizing the escape of his long lost friends from the golden cells of Mali? If such a thing should occur, will the ICTR and the UN be held responsible? Truth be told, this would have never happened with the Nuremberg convicts. There is clearly a double standard on the part of our western counterparts when it comes to pursuing justice for Africans. Despite the presence of African actors in its fold, the ICTR’s approach to justice has some clear racist undertones. As far as the West is concerned, the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi happened in some remote part of Black Africa, and is undeserving of any more attention than what is already provided for; yet this is the last Genocide of the 20th Century we are talking about! A genocide the nature of which one could hardly compare with any other in the history of mankind. A Genocide that could have been prevented had the West been prepared to view it as more complex than the usual cliché of ancestral tribal rivalries and seen it for what it truly was: a human tragedy. Sadly, the only reactions to be expected in the almost unavoidable escape of the Genocidairs from Mali jails will be sorrowful speeches of international civil servants of the regrettable inaction of local public servants who couldn’t care less if they tried, accountable to no one but themselves… so much for international justice.The author is a media owner and manager.