The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) will close its field office in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, on Aug. 31 after completing genocide trials, an official has said.
The tribunal’s registrar, Abubacarr Tambadou, made this announcement in a statement on Friday following his visit to Rwanda, where he held talks with various senior government officials.
Set up by the UN Security Council in December 2010 to complete the remaining tasks of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the IRMCT has operated a field office in Kigali for about three decades.
Tambadou said the office closure follows a decision by the Hague-based court to drop the case against prominent Rwanda genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga, who was deemed unfit to stand trial last year.
The mechanism, which was handling cases of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, no longer has any trials to conduct following the prosecutor’s conclusion that two of the remaining men on the IRMCT’s wanted list, Protais Mpiranya and Augustin Bizimana, were found to have died, he said.
“The closure of the field office does not mean disengagement with Rwanda as the mechanism will only change its approach to its work,” Tambadou said.
He added that the mechanism will continue its “mandated functions, such as witness protection, mainly from the Arusha branch of the Mechanism,” while a small team of staff from the office of the prosecutor will remain in Rwanda to continue assisting national authorities, particularly in tracking fugitives.
Tambadou, who was in Rwanda from Feb. 11 to 16, discussed the need for continued collaboration with various Rwandan senior government officials as well as representatives from IBUKA, an umbrella association of genocide survivor organizations in Rwanda.
