Cyanzarwe — For a village this small, it's hard to believe that almost no-one knows about their neighbours who have been missing for some weeks.

Official figures show that more than a dozen people have fled this community over the last month. Almost all of them left after being mentioned at the local Gacaca court.

Since the first proper trials in Rwanda's semi-traditional Gacaca courts began on March 10th, 2005, at least 3,000 people are known to have fled the country - apparently for fear of being prosecuted.

As of last week, figures from the United Nations High commission for Refuges (UNHCR) in Burundi and Uganda showed that no less than 2,000 and slightly over 1,000 Rwandans had fled to those countries respectively.

No figures are apparently available for those fleeing to Rwanda's giant neighbour to the west - the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yet this is where the National Service for Gacaca Courts first pointed its fingers when giving the initial reports of Gacaca fugitives. Still recovering from civil war, and with numerous armed conflicts still raging, the DRC may be too busy with other issues to occupy itself with this kind of thing.

That means that while many Rwandans are talking about the fugitives, no one knows exactly how many people have fled.

"We have no figures. We just know that people have been leaving the country", says Philip Gatsinzi, the coordinator of Gacaca activities in the north-eastern Rwanda province of Umutara that borders Uganda.

Gacaca courts were set up three years ago to speed up genocide trials and reconciliation. An estimated one million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the 1994 genocide.

The courts, presided over by elected community members, have shorter sentences than regular courts. The idea is that the leniency acts as an incentive for confession.

For example, a killer that confesses and apologises could get between seven and twelve years in jail plus an equivalent time doing community work outside jail.

"If these fugitives were to be tried for the crimes they are fleeing from in the countries where they have fled to, they would regret ever leaving Rwanda", says Augustin Nkusi, the national director of legal affairs for Gacaca. "Gacaca is very sympathetic", he adds.

But mercy in Gacaca has limits. While confessed killers who have spent about seven years in jail may walk home after a judgment, many of those that are found to have given incomplete confessions or no confessions are driven back to jail to serve the reminder of a 30-year jail term.

The government is stepping up sensitization campaigns on the benefits of the courts and their importance in reconciliation efforts. No speech at any kind of event ends without mention of Gacaca.

The governor of the south Rwanda province of Butare bordering Burundi, Hope Tumukunde, recently crossed the border to go and convince the fugitives to return. Eight are said to have heeded her call.

This is happening at a time when only less than 10% of the courts have started trials. The rest are still in the early stages of the pre-trial phase.

Official estimates indicate that when investigations are completed later this year, at least 700,000 Rwandans will be listed as suspects for crimes related to the genocide. That is about one in every eleven inhabitants of 'the land of a thousand hills'.