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	Make justice a reality for genocide survivors, urges rights group by African Rights / REDRESS Rwanda   19 December 2008   Justice, more than reconciliation, plays a fundamental role for the survivors of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and much more needs to be done to make justice a reality for them, a report by African Rights, a human rights think-tank, recommends.   “We need to listen to their concerns, help to protect them from reprisals and further trauma and support those in need of psychological and financial assistance,” Rakiya Omaar, the African Rights director, said in a statement.   The African Rights report was issued on 10 December, days before the Tanzania-based UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) handed down a life sentence on Theoneste Bagosora, accused of masterminding the killings.   The report, Survivors and Post-Genocide Justice in Rwanda: Their Experiences, Perspectives and Hopes, offers new insights into the meaning of justice after genocide by examining various objectives of the policy-makers from the viewpoint of the survivors.   The report is based on at least 100 interviews with genocide survivors in Rwanda and Europe and took eight months to research and document.   "Justice is a fundamental human value and a central component of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Carla Ferstman, director of REDRESS - an organisation that seeks reparation for torture survivors - said in the statement jointly issued with African Rights. "Yet, for survivors of genocide in Rwanda, justice remains elusive."   According to the government of Rwanda, an estimated 937,000 people - mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus - were killed during the genocide.   Handing down the sentence to Bagosora and two others, ICTR judge Erik Mose said the former army colonel was guilty of the 1994 killings and held the highest authority in the Ministry of Defence.   Bagosora was director of the cabinet in the Ministry of Defence and a high-ranking officer of the Rwandan Armed Forces during the genocide.   The judge said Bagosora was responsible for the organised killings by soldiers and militiamen during the genocide. The court also sentenced Maj Aloys Ntabakuze and Col Anatole Nsengiyumva to life in prison but acquitted Gen Gratian Kabiligi.   Bagosora, 67, has been described as an anti-Tutsi extremist. He spoke openly about “extermination” of Tutsis and distributed weapons to Interahamwe militiamen during the genocide.   He was arrested in Cameroon in March 1996 and his trial at the ICTR began in April 2002. He had been accused of three counts of genocide, six counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes.
	Somalia: War Crimes devastate Population by Human Rights Watch   Dec 2008   The combatants in Somalia have inflicted more harm on civilians than on each other. (Human Rights Watch)   (Nairobi) - All parties in the escalating conflict in Somalia have regularly committed war crimes and other serious abuses during the past year that have contributed to the country"s humanitarian catastrophe, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch urged the United States, the European Union, and other major international actors to rethink their flawed approaches to the crisis and support efforts to ensure accountability.   The 104-page report, "So Much to Fear: War Crimes and the Devastation of Somalia," describes how the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the Ethiopian forces that intervened in Somalia to support it and insurgent forces have committed widespread and serious violations of the laws of war. Frequent violations include indiscriminate attacks, killings, rape, use of civilians as human shields, and looting. Since early 2007, the escalating conflict has claimed thousands of civilian lives, displaced more than a million people, and driven out most of the population of Mogadishu, the capital. Increasing attacks on aid workers in the past year have severely limited relief operations and contributed to an emerging humanitarian crisis.   "The combatants in Somalia have inflicted more harm on civilians than on each other," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "There are no quick fixes in Somalia, but foreign governments need to stop adding fuel to the fire with misguided policies that empower human rights abusers."   Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, and a UN peacekeeping operation withdrew in failure in 1995. The years since have been violent and chaotic. In December 2006, Ethiopian military forces intervened to back Somalia"s weak TFG against a coalition of Islamic courts that had won control of Mogadishu. In the past two years, the conflict has escalated dramatically, and internationally backed peace talks have failed to make any impact on the ground.   The report draws on interviews with more than 80 witnesses and victims of abuses, who described attacks by all the warring parties in stark detail.   Each party to the conflict has indiscriminately fired on civilian neighborhoods in Mogadishu on an almost daily basis, leveling homes without warning and killing civilians in the streets. Insurgent forces have regularly carried out ambushes and roadside bombings in markets and residential areas, and launched mortars from within densely populated neighborhoods. Ethiopian forces have reacted to insurgent attacks with indiscriminate heavy rocket and artillery fire, with devastating impact on civilians.. Visit the related web page
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