diamond geezer
Oct 11, 2004, 03:26 AM
THE first United Nations worker in the organisation's history to have been suspected of involvement in genocide has been awarded compensation of about $US35,000 ($47,635) after the case against him was dropped.
The decision has outraged survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It has also angered UN officials, who have accused the organisation of mismanaging evidence and betraying victims by finding in the suspect's favour without a trial.
Callixte Mbarushimana worked for the UN Development Program in the Rwandan capital Kigali. Allegations that he was a Hutu extremist who participated in the mass killing of Tutsis circulated for years among UN staff members.
However, the UN did not investigate and Mr Mbarushimana continued working for the organisation on and off for nearly seven more years. When The Sunday Times exposed Mr Mbarushimana's alleged role in 2001, the UN insisted he was no longer on its payroll.
Shortly afterwards he was found to be running a UN technical department in Kosovo. He was briefly detained on an international arrest warrant. Upon his release, the UN's war crimes tribunal was ordered to investigate.
When the Rwandan genocide started, the UN's international staff were withdrawn and Tutsi employees went into hiding.
Mr Mbarushimana took control of the UN compound and was allegedly seen collaborating with Hutu death squads. Among his alleged victims was Florence Ngirumpatse, the UNDP administrator in Kigali, who was hacked to death along with schoolgirls she was sheltering.
After collecting 24 statements from survivors, Tony Greig, the New Zealand lawyer who headed the inquiry, submitted his evidence and helped draft an indictment.
"The evidence was there," he said yesterday. "All that was needed was a signature from Carla Del Ponte, the chief UN prosecutor."
But Ms Del Ponte never signed. The indictment stagnated and Mr Mbarushimana vanished from Kosovo. The case came back to haunt the UN in 2001 when, from France where he had claimed asylum, Mr Mbarushimana sued for wrongful dismissal. It has now emerged that the UN administrative tribunal has awarded him 12 months' back pay.
The Sunday Times
The UN needs to get their house in order and put their "A into G"!
The decision has outraged survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It has also angered UN officials, who have accused the organisation of mismanaging evidence and betraying victims by finding in the suspect's favour without a trial.
Callixte Mbarushimana worked for the UN Development Program in the Rwandan capital Kigali. Allegations that he was a Hutu extremist who participated in the mass killing of Tutsis circulated for years among UN staff members.
However, the UN did not investigate and Mr Mbarushimana continued working for the organisation on and off for nearly seven more years. When The Sunday Times exposed Mr Mbarushimana's alleged role in 2001, the UN insisted he was no longer on its payroll.
Shortly afterwards he was found to be running a UN technical department in Kosovo. He was briefly detained on an international arrest warrant. Upon his release, the UN's war crimes tribunal was ordered to investigate.
When the Rwandan genocide started, the UN's international staff were withdrawn and Tutsi employees went into hiding.
Mr Mbarushimana took control of the UN compound and was allegedly seen collaborating with Hutu death squads. Among his alleged victims was Florence Ngirumpatse, the UNDP administrator in Kigali, who was hacked to death along with schoolgirls she was sheltering.
After collecting 24 statements from survivors, Tony Greig, the New Zealand lawyer who headed the inquiry, submitted his evidence and helped draft an indictment.
"The evidence was there," he said yesterday. "All that was needed was a signature from Carla Del Ponte, the chief UN prosecutor."
But Ms Del Ponte never signed. The indictment stagnated and Mr Mbarushimana vanished from Kosovo. The case came back to haunt the UN in 2001 when, from France where he had claimed asylum, Mr Mbarushimana sued for wrongful dismissal. It has now emerged that the UN administrative tribunal has awarded him 12 months' back pay.
The Sunday Times
The UN needs to get their house in order and put their "A into G"!
