Kigali — Genocide suspects across Rwandan prisons and other detention centres are hurrying up to confess and enter guilty pleas ahead of a March 15th, 2004 deadline.

An estimated One million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. A law prosecuting genocide and related crimes was put in place in 1996.

The 1996 law provided for a three-year period in which suspects that confessed and pleaded guilty got heavily reduced sentences. The 'confession and guilty plea procedure' period has continually been prolonged up to the latest deadline.

"The numbers of confessions in the run-up to March 15th has increased very much", said Hannington Tayebwa, spokesperson for the ministry of justice,

Suspects that plead guilty after the deadline may receive reduced sentences under regular provisions. However, such benefits fall short of those of the confession and guilty plea procedure.

For the past three weeks, senior government officials and prosecutors have been visiting prisons and other detention facilities calling for suspects to 'speak the truth and facilitate the process of reconciliation'.

An estimated 80,000 suspects remain in Rwandan jails awaiting trial. The first beneficiaries of the guilty plea procedure were released in May 2003. Some 20,000 were released after undergoing three months of civic education.

In early March, the minister of justice is scheduled to advise government on whether or not the confession and guilty plea procedure deadline can be extended again. However, observers in Kigali say that the chance that their will be another prolongation this time is very unlikely.