Twenty Years On, Questions of Rwandan Justice Persist

KIGALI — At the main prison in Kigali, inmates who have been tried in court wear orange outfits. Those still awaiting trial wear pink, but they are now a minority.

In the immediate aftermath of the 1994 genocide — in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in 100 days — there were 120,000 people accused of having taken part in the killings.

In those first years, all the accused were to be brought before the national court system, says Balinda Anastase, coordinator at the Ministry of Justice.

"We calculated that with an average of 1,000 people on trial per year, it would take a century just to judge the 120,000 incarcerated at the time," he says.

To accelerate the process, a traditional community justice system was implemented in the early 2000s. At the Gacaca courts, the community elected judges to try suspects.

But according to Anastase, there were some initial difficulties.

"Some people were not honest in their impartiality," he says. "There were instances of witness intimidation and even murder as neighbors testified against each other. It wasn't easy. "

Human Rights Watch and other groups were critical of the Gacaca courts' informality and lack of legal training for both judges and the defense.

But the Rwandan government defended the system, saying this kind of community justice helped reconciliation. To aid that process, a 2008 law also reduced sentences for convicts who showed remorse and apologized for their crimes.

Genocide Survivors Association secretary Naphtal Ahishakiye calls this something that was very important to the survivors.

"As survivors, we benefited from the Gacaca many things. One is the truth," he says. "Because, during Gacaca, we knew what happened to our family members."

After 10 years of operations, the Gacaca courts were closed in 2012, at which point the Rwandan government claims to have tried close to two million suspects — 65 percent of whom were convicted.

To try the leaders of the genocide, the United Nations in 1994 set up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in Arusha, Tanzania.

The court has convicted 49 people of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide, including former Prime Minister Jean Kambanda, who received a sentence of life in prison.

But survivors' groups weren't pleased with all ICTR decisions: Ahishakiye says the acquittal of two generals ignored critical testimony.

"As survivors, we have information on the part these people played in the genocide," he says. "It's the reason why [the court] ignored some facts."

New York-based Human Rights Watch has criticized the Arusha court for being unwilling to prosecute any members of RPF, Rwanda's ruling party. The ICTR is due to close down at the end of the year.

VOA News

Australian Wins Legal Fight for Non-specific Gender Status

SYDNEY — The Australian High Court on Wednesday ruled a Sydney resident be granted non-specific gender status 25 years after undergoing a sex change to become a female.

Norrie, who goes by one name, was born male and underwent gender reassignment in 1989, but stopped taking hormones after the surgery and no longer identifies as male or female.

Norrie, 52, was given gender neutral status in 2010, but this was withdrawn months later by the New South Wales state government, starting a series of appeals that eventually reached the High Court.

The judgment handed down in Norrie's favor was unanimous.

"I jumped up and down a lot... I was getting ready for my shower and I saw it come up and I said, 'Hooray'... I squealed," Norrie said of the decision at a news conference.

"Maybe people will now understand there are more options than the binary, and even if a person is specifically male or female, their friends might not be, and hopefully people might be a little bit more accepting of that."

Norrie's lawyer, Scott McDonald, said the ruling sent a message the High Court does not believe gender is limited to male and female. He described the case outcome as a "persuasive authority" for other jurisdictions and Australian states.

Despite its ruling, the court repeatedly referred to Norrie as "she" and "her" in its judgment, noting that Norrie's legal representatives used the terms in submissions.

The court was asked to consider whether "non-specific" can be included as a third gender category under Australia's Registry's Act.

Lawyers for the Registry argued confusion would occur from the acceptance of more than two gender categories, and that the purpose of a reassignment procedure was to assist a person to be considered a member of the opposite sex. 

 

(VOA News)

Alleged N. Korean Drones Fly Over Seoul Presidential House

South Korea has acknowledged a surveillance drone, likely operated by North Korea, flew over the presidential palace in Seoul and took several pictures, before crashing near the border.

Seoul says the crudely built, unmanned aircraft was equipped with a basic camera containing about 200 aerial photographs, including some taken from directly above the presidential Blue House.

Defense Minister Kim Min-seok said the drone, which was less than two meters long, did not have the capability to transmit the images back to North Korea and was not able to be weaponized.
 
"It is of primitive standard, and it would not have been easy to use it in an act of terror, or more precisely, it would not have been possible," he said. " But it could possibly be used in an act of terror if it gets more developed for long time in the future."
 
2nd drone crash
 
The aircraft, found in the border city of Paju, was one of two suspected North Korean drones that crashed late last month in South Korean territory. The other was recovered on the frontline Baengnyeong Island after the two Koreas exchanged artillery fire into one another's sea boundaries.
 
Many Korea analysts are downplaying the danger posed by the drones, saying they appear to be poorly designed and unsophisticated.  
 
"It looks like something I made with my friends in high school. I'm actually pretty impressed that they managed to mount a camera on there," said Robert Kelly, an international relations professor at Pusan National University in South Korea.
 
Kelly, who spoke with VOA by telephone, was referring to pictures in South Korean media that showed wreckage of the light-blue aircraft, which almost had a toy-like appearance.
 
"I wouldn't really define this as much of a threat. These things are pretty small, and [the North Koreans] already know what the Blue House is -- you can see the Blue House on Google Earth, and you can sort of drive by it," he noted. " If they were going to drop a bomb on top of the Blue House, it's not too hard to find. I'm not really convinced this is a game changer."

Rising threat?

Others see the drones as part of a rising threat posed by North Korea's fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles.

"I think this does represent a threat," said Mark Fitzpatrick, the director of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. " It's not the worst of the threats that North Korea poses. These drones can't carry chemical weapons or other weapons of mass destruction. But they're certainly indicators of malicious intent."

Fitzpatrick said with enough time, Pyongyang can likely produce much more sophisticated drone technology without much difficulty.

"It's not such a state of the art technology. Drone technology is becoming very widespread," he noted. "And given North Korea's military relationship with Iran, which has developed drones of its own and which has been the benefactor of a couple of U.S. very sophisticated drones which crashed on its territory, some of that technology could easily be acquired. So I think what we're seeing today with these toy-like surveillance drones - they're just the beginning of what we'll be seeing in the future."

Pyongyang's motive

It is unclear what North Korea intended to accomplish by sending the drones into the South.
Remco Breuker, a professor of Korean studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands, told VOA he would not rule out the possibility that the drone mission is a prelude to a wider escalation of military tensions.

"The thing I'd be worried about now is the North Korean intentions. They've quite clearly, I think, not respected South Korean territorial integrity again. And I wonder what's behind that, and whether we are looking at another escalation of tensions like we saw last year," Breuker said.
 
Tensions between the two Koreas have risen in recent weeks because of annual joint U.S.-South Korean military drills and a series of rocket and ballistic missile launches by Pyongyang.
 
Earlier this week, North Korea fired 100 artillery rounds into the sea on the South Korean side of the maritime border, prompting Seoul to fire its own rounds back into northern waters. No one was injured in the exchange.
 
The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war following their 1950s armed conflict, which ended in a truce and not a formal peace treaty.

15 Civilians Killed in Nigeria Attack

Nigerian officials said multiple suicide blasts near the northern city of Maiduguri have killed at least 15 people and seriously wounded five soldiers.

The attack Tuesday involved four cars packed with explosives. Officials said two of the drivers rammed their vehicles into a major military checkpoint, setting off explosions.

Security forces killed the other two drivers before they could detonate their bombs.

The police commissioner of Nigeria's Borno state said the attack appeared to be the work of Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

The group is blamed for thousands of deaths since 2009. Amnesty International said Monday that 1,500 people have died in Boko Haram-related violence this year alone.

'Mama Kanga': Nigeria's 'Well Woman'

Ololade Rabiu -- a 46-year-old mother of six -- enters a hole to drill a water well at Igbogbo, 

on March 15, 2014

Igbogbo (Nigeria) (AFP) - Fortified by a faith in God and a Guinness stout -- or a tot of something stronger -- Ololade Rabiu reckons she must have dug hundreds of wells in her time.

But the 46-year-old mother of six is a rarity in Nigeria, where forging deep into the red earth to find precious drinking water has historically been a male preserve.

"I am extremely happy that I am the only woman so far in this profession of well-drilling. I love and enjoy it," she told AFP at her home in Igbogbo, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Lagos.

"There is no well I cannot drill or enter," she said proudly.

Megacity Lagos and its surrounding state are crippled by over-burdened and neglected infrastructure, with safe, clean drinking water in particularly short supply.

A study by the Lagos State Water Corporation found that the city's 18 million people needed 540 million gallons (2.5 billion litres) against actual production of just 210 million gallons in 2010.

It has vowed to dramatically increase production to 745 million gallons per day by 2020, by which time the city is expected to be home to 29 million people.

But in the meantime, households are forced to rely on tanker deliveries for their water or private wells.

Purification to eliminate disease is not guaranteed and street vendors selling "sachet" water in cellophane bags are a common sight -- as are the discarded empty packets on the streets.

Ololade Rabiu, 46, sits beside the tomb of her late husband, as she speaks about well-drilling at her Igbogbo home, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Lagos, on March 15, 2014 (AFP Photo/Aderogba Obisesan)

- 'The well woman' -

The shortfalls in public supply mean there is plenty of business for well diggers like Rabiu, who first began drilling for water in 1997.

She learnt her craft from her Ghanaian second husband, Daniel Ajiraku, and has since carved out a niche for herself along with a nickname in the Yoruba language: "Mama Kanga" -- "the well woman".

"The beginning was difficult but now I thank God that I have overcome my initial fright and I have made a success of my chosen career," she explained.

"Daniel taught me all the rudiments of well-drilling: how to locate the water bed, determine depth, how much to charge, the implements to be used and how to overcome challenges."

Neighbours and clients are full of praise for her ability, which once saw her drill to a depth of 130 feet (40 metres) in the Akute area of Ogun state.

"She drilled my well more than seven years ago and she did it so well that I have so far had no problem with it," said Ben Kunle Omodein, from Igbogbo.

"She is gifted in the art of well-drilling. I am sure she does it better than many men," said her former landlord, Yisa Abdul.

Rabiu's third husband, Saliu, died at the age of 64 last month but she said that the setback would not stop her working.

"Life must continue. I cannot allow the death of my husband to kill my career," she said.

- 'Our hero, our mother' -

Rabiu's children, one of whom lives in Spain, have followed their mother into the well-digging business.

Fourteen-year-old Kobina proves the point by jumping into a nearby water-filled well, only to re-emerge a few minutes later.

As for the job's male bias, Rabiu, who is from Ile-Ife in southwest Nigeria and originally trained as a designer, said she had never let her gender stop her from doing what she wants in life.

Rabiu's living room is strewn with the tools of her trade: a wheel-barrow, water-pumping machine, a hose, spade, iron bars, shovels, buckets and two generators.

The job is dangerous and back-breaking, she admitted, but said that her faith in God -- and a Guinness, gin or whisky -- had helped her overcome the challenges.

Nothing, she said, gives her as much pleasure as digging wells.

"I feel elated when we have a meeting of well-drillers in Lagos and I am the only woman in the midst of hundreds of men.

"I am well respected because they all see me as their mother. They are my children," she added.

Yusuf Mainasara, a well-driller from Niger, agreed.

"'Mama Kanga' is our queen, our hero and our mother. We are really proud of her," he said.

Source

Chris Brown - Karrueche Tran Split: Rihanna Moves On With Drake

Things are going great between Drake and Rihanna. The couple reportedly reunited for a night out on March 25 in London and had a blast in a London nightclub called "Tramp". The couple has been going strong since they have allegedly started dating each other exclusively. Previous to their London outing, Rihanna was seen cheering Drake at his "Would You Like A Tour" concert which was held at O2 arena. The couple was seen leaving the arena separately but rumor has it that they reunited later and were seen enjoying each other's company till 5 a.m. next morning.

On the contrary things are not going that well for Karrueche Tran and Chris Brown. The couple has reportedly broken up and Tran recently confessed that very cruel things were said about her relationship with Brown.

"I was going through a situation that we all are very familiar of. I had a lot of criticism and comments about my current situation. At the time, it was honestly very hard to deal with because people were saying really cruel things. Having to go through a rough time and then on top of that, having to deal with a ton of BS was a bit overwhelming. Never allow people's opinions to justify your life. Live your life because at the end of the day, you've only got you," Tran revealed to Annex magazine.

Reports have further suggested that Tran caught messages from another woman on Brown's phone and this lead to serious tiff between the couple. Speculations are rife  that the another woman from whom Brown received messages  could be Ariana Grande. Brown and Grande have recently shot for a music video together and sources have suggested that the flames flew between the singers while shooting for the video.

A source revealed to Rumor Fix that when the couple started recording "Don't be Gone For So Long" together, sparks flew between them."

Wyclef Jean Is Broke And Owes More Than $2million In Taxes

Wyclef Jean is broke and owes more than 2.5 million dollars in tax lines. His business manager confirmed the news to The Smoking Gun recently.

An email reportedly sent by the rapper's accountant, David Levin, in January to the Jean's creditors confirmed the formerFugees' financial state, as he stated that, "in my most professional verbiage…there ain't no money." Levin's email was sent out in response to threats from the singer's creditor's threats of impending court action against Jean.

According to latest reports, the Haitian artist and producer reportedly said he would pay $100,000 to entertainment law firmShukat Arrow Hafer Weber & Herbsman to settle an outstanding bill of $133,000. The rapper/producer was requested to pay his outstanding debt with the law firm via two installments: $10,000 by last August 1 and another $50,000 by the end of last year.

But it is alleged that Jean did not make any payments to the firm. The alleged agreement stated that if Jean made the two payments totaling $60,000, the law firm would waive the remaining $40,000. But if he failed to make good on the agreement, an additional ten percent annual interest would be added to the $100,000. At this time, Jean reportedly owes the firm $102,027.40.

Reports claim Jean's current legal predicament isn't the first time he's had to pay off a debt. The rapper was questioned about the handling of finances for his now defunct organization, Yele Haitifollowing the Haitian earthquake. According to reports, the non-profit foundation collected more than $16 million in donations following a series of earthquakes that destroyed the island's capital city, Port-Au-Prince.

It is likely Yele Haiti ultimately left a string of upset creditors upon closing in 2012.

(PULSE)