Willy Mugenzi
27 March 2007
Nyanza — Mpanga Prison, proposed to house Genocide and other suspects currently at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is ready for transfers, Secretary General in the ministry of Internal Security, Joseph Mutaboba has revealed.
Talking to The New Times on March 22 at Mpanga Prison, Mukingo Sector in Nyanza District, Ambassador Mutaboba stressed that the prison is ready for ICTR transfers, noting that the Government has played its part in meeting the required prison international standards.
With a current total of 6,494 prisoners, Mpanga Prison has absorption capacity of 7,500 prisoners, an official source told The New Times.
Sources within the prison intimated to The New Times that so far, 30 dossiers of Genocide cases have been received from Arusha.
ICTR, based in Arusha, Tanzania, was mandated to investigate and prosecute Genocide suspects who authored the 1994 Rwandan Genocide that left over one million innocent people dead and thousands of others as survivors.
The tribunal is expected to wind up its work by 2008, and hand over its documentations and suspects to the Rwandan Government.
Asked whether ICTR has accepted handing over its important archives to Rwanda, when its mandate is over, Mutaboba said: "The landing point for all ICTR archives should be in Rwanda. After all, they contain Rwanda's history. Why should they take our history?"
Most Rwandans believe that Arusha-held prisoners have more uptodate facts about Rwanda's tragedy especially providing information to Genocide survivors on the whereabouts of their relatives still missing, 13 years after the Genocide.
According to Ambassador Mutaboba, transferring Genocide suspects will promote justice and prevent any re-occurrence of similar atrocities.
One Genocide survivor said, "The presence of Jean Kambanda and his likes in Rwanda will be a perpetual Genocide archive, a reference for future generations to fear animosity and instead promote humanism."
Bihingiro John, the director of Mpanga Prison said that the prisoners from Arusha will be given their separate cells to distance them from other prisoners who have been in the country.
"We are now partitioning cells to separate them from those we have here. They will not have any direct contact with other prisoners," Bihingiro said.
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