Kigali — The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will next year begin transferring to Rwanda 45 cases of people accused of masterminding the 1994 genocide.

Mr Hassan Aboubacar Jallow, the Chief Prosecutor of the Arusha-based court, told reporters on Monday that his court and the Rwandan government would finalise talks of the transfers by December.

The cases would include those of indicted suspects and those still at large. Jallow said there were modalities to be agreed upon before the effecting the transfers.

They include scrapping the death sentence. Jallow has been in Rwanda for the past one week. "There is no way we are going to hit the 2008 deadline if we keep all the cases. We have to transfer some of the cases to Rwanda for national jurisdiction," he said.

He said the court was facing a financial crisis after the nations which had pledged support had not delivered any on their promises.