“Challenging Impunity”

Tuesday, February 13 and Wednesday, February 14:

While our last entry may have left the impression that our sole purpose in going to Tanzania was to go on safari, in fact, our primary purpose in visiting Arusha was to observe proceedings at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the U.N. court that has been authorized to try individuals involved in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Upon arrival at the tribunal, after clearing several steps of security, we were briefed by Moustapha Hassouna, the Director of Protocol and External Relations. We spent two days observing portions of three trials, including one in which the accused (defendant) was both a Minister in the government and a musician. He was accused of writing and performing songs that incited genocide. After listening to a linguistic expert analyze his songs on a linguistic, semantic, and stylistic basis, the accused himself cross-examined the expert on whether the words of the song were anything more than an accurate representation of Rwanda’s history under the Belgians.

We had another first: a ride in an U.N. vehicle to the home of Judge Solomy Bossa, a Ugandan High Court judge who is currently sitting on the Tribunal. Over tea, we discussed her views on the attorneys who practice before the tribunal, on the effectiveness of the tribunal in bringing closure to the family members of victims of the genocide, and on the tension between doing a job that has deep implications and the day-to-day tedium of presiding over a trial of six defendants that will go on for years.

On our last night in Arusha, we had Valentine’s Day dinner with our safari guide, Peter; his two children; the half-dozen other children of friends and relatives living in his home; and his cousin and cousin’s wife.