By DAVID KAIZA,
THE EASTAFRICAN

LACK OF confidence in Rwanda's Gacaca criminal justice system is holding back more than 20,000 refugees who fled the country 10 years ago from returning home. 

The Refugee Law Project, a Makerere University initiative on human rights, which is following up the repatriation process, has called on the Rwanda government to reform the Gacaca system if it is to inspire confidence in all Rwandans. It has also called on the government to offer protection to returnees in the Rwanda countryside.

Moreover, questions have been raised about what the refugees would be returning to when they leave Uganda. The land they left behind when they fled Rwanda in 1994 has been taken over by other people. The refugees now fear that they will never get back their property.

As a result, only 898 refugees have so far returned to Rwanda. This represents only 5 per cent of the estimated 19,149 Rwandans living in refugee camps in western Uganda.

These refugees were returned home in three convoys. Of this number, 580 came from Nakivale refugee settlement while 151 came from Oruchiinga and 201 from Kyaka II.

A further 993 have volunteered to go home – 292 from Oruchinga, 401 from Nakivale and 300 from Kyaka II.

Attempts to bring home refugees who had been living in Tanzania failed until the Tanzanian authorities decided to forcibly move them out of the country. Most ended up in Uganda.

Rwandan and Ugandan refugee officials have already met several times to resolve the issue. The two countries formed a joint repatriation committee to oversee the repatriation.

The RLP has called on the Rwanda government to reform the legal system to protect land rights.

"The RLP calls on the government of Rwanda to strengthen its criminal justice system, especially in rural areas, to allay fears of unfair criminalisation of returning refugees. The government should also ensure that returning refugees are safe from attack, particularly in rural locations," the organisation said in a statement.

Gacaca is the traditional justice system that was reactivated by the Rwanda government to cope with the huge numbers of people accused of involvement in the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed. 

The nature of the system, which is run by the community, has been criticised for failing to deliver "convincing justice." Critics point out that the system does not asses the evidence produced on the basis of whether it is submissible or not and say that there is no mechanism to ensure that the procedures are not abused by people pursuing personal vendettas.

The Refugee Law Project, which says it will follow up the fears expressed by the refugees, has said that the Gacaca system is a good recourse in the case of Rwanda, but adds that it ought to be reformed.

"Many of the refugees are not convinced that the Gacaca is not completely foolproof," Emmanuel Bagenda, the advocacy officer of the Refugee Project told The EastAfrican. "There is nothing wrong with Gacaca itself, but it is informal. It needs to be formalised. All the legal systems that work well set a high burden of proof against the accused. The refugees feel that that burden of proof is not being applied."

Prosecution of suspected genocidaires has been too slow in Rwanda and Arusha in Tanzania. Reports have emerged from the Rwanda countryside, notably in Gikongoro, that some of the masterminds of the genocide still at large are killing potential witnesses who might testify against them.

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