Keith called to see the computer technician to ask if he could also investigate why the keyboard no longer works, while I went straight to the United Nations building to line up for my security check so that I could sit in the gallery at one of the Rwanda war crimes tribunals. The gallery was just outside a glass wall, and equipped with earphones, which provided translations into English. The case, part of a larger one called Ndindiliyimana et al, was investigating to what extent the accused had misappropriated army resources, personnel, arms and armoured cars. Fundamentally, it is considered that those below the rank of major act on orders, and so unless they act against orders and commit a war crime at their own initiative, they are not tried. Those of the rank of Major and above are responsible for the acts of those under their command. This trial was all about finding out if this major knew of the plan, or directed the plan, for the Prime Minister to be murdered after the President was killed when his plane was shot down.
It was a long drawn out session of question and answer, with the prosecution trying to tease out every detail of the arrangements with the armoured cars, and the role of the major and the captains beneath him. The major was being obtuse, answering only the very literal sense of the questions. His job had been as commander of the Reconnaissance Battalion, starting in November 1993. Even finding out which sensitive sites he had been responsible for protecting was like pulling teeth. The following, to establish how many armoured vehicles there were, is an example of the questions and answers, not verbatim but from my notes:
Prosecuter – How many tanks were in your garage for Reccy Batallian?
Major - I couldn’t say how many were there, or if they were going.
P – How many, of anything in the shape of an armoured vehicle did you have in your garage?
M – It depended on the day where some were. It varied.
P – How many did you physically see when you started at the Batallion – you can count.
Defence – Objection, the witness’s ability to count is not in question.
Judge – Continue, Prosecutor, but keep to the point, and Major, you are obliged to answer the questions.
M – When I got to the Batallion there was one squadron away and one there. So I could not be exact, but there were seven or eight vehicles in the camp and 5 VBRs.’
The prosecution case was that the Major had been part of a group that planned the murder by soldiers of the Prime Minister, and that he either knew what was going on and did nothing, or that he took a more active part in inciting or directing the soldiers. None of this was apparent during the cat and mouse of the early morning session, with the Major’s movements on the night of 6th April 1994, the night of the shooting down of the President, being left until later. That was when we were onto the big names and the crucial issues, and the Major was not so calm and cool any more. The Prosecution needed to establish a link to a meeting that the Major declared he had not attended, and he continued with ‘During the meeting that you attended, someone suggested that the Prime Minister be killed…’. The Defence Lawyer objected, on the grounds that you can’t ask follow up questions on something that has been denied. The Prosecution said that you can. The Defence jumped up again and said that that was only in the case of there being evidence to the contrary. The chief of the three judges said that an earlier witness had given such evidence.
The Major said that the Prosecution was using false premises so he couldn’t answer, other than to say that he had nothing to do with what happened. The Prosecutor continued with ‘… at that meeting, it was mandated that he track down the Prime Minister and kill her.’
The Major’s movements were odd, but the situation was odd, so maybe they were appropriate. This had moved a long way from wanting to know the number of armoured vehicles back in December. For me the tension was building, with each question forcing the major to answer with specifics, of what he had said to his squadron leaders, and why an armoured car had been sent to be with his wife that night. For Keith it was incredibly tedious and by the time the session ended, he had had enough. I couldn’t wait to get back in the afternoon.
The lunch break was reasonably long, so we walked over to the Arusha Museum, which is in the building where the first Independence Government met. We had not asked for a guide, but a young man called Francis accompanied us and said that he was our guide. Keith said that we weren’t going to pay any money for a guide, and Francis said that that was OK. Francis was an excellent guide for me because we moved at my pace, but it was not so good for Keith who felt he was rushed. Really we are much better without guides, but then there is no-one to ask questions.
Independence was established in 1962 and a government formed with Julius Nyrere as its first President. The Arusha Declaration was then made in February,1967, which outlined a vision and policy direction for the country. People marched to Arusha from all over the country to show their support for the Declaration and Nyere and others marched all the way from his village. When he arrived he was met by ten thousand people in an exultant crowd. It was a socialist government and they put their ideas into action quickly, nationalising property within a month. Democratic elections were not held until 1984. Most of the museum dealt with the political events surrounding the Arusha Declaration, and only briefly with the history of Tanzania as a German colony and then as a British Protectorate, when Germany was stripped of her colonies after World War I. The partition of Africa was carried out by the victorious European Powers, with no consultation with the Africans.
There was an interesting display which explained about the traditional medicinal value of plants, and of how such practices were not permitted under the Germans, but were recognised and allowed under the British, with the passing of the 1922 Witchraft Ordinance. Passing on and using traditional herbal knowledge has been more positively promoted, with the current approach being to authorise practitioners through an accreditation process, with their work being recognised as alternative healing. Francis explained that the original religions had aspects of nature as gods, such as mountains or a baobab tree, and that Tanzania was not a united nation, but a land of different tribal groups with different languages, religions and cultures. It had not been automatic that they would unite against the Germans, and as individual tribes they were in a weakened position.
Iron was produced in Africa 3000 years ago, with bellows being made from hollow trees and the metals smelted in termite nests. The technology was only lost with the arrival of superior metal items with the Europeans. An unusual circular seat was a chief’s seat, and Francis said that the custom is current within extended families. In his family, there is a special seat that the eldest member sits on, and no-one else would dare sit on it. Out the back there was an art room with a designer drawing in outlines and other artists doing the backgrounds and other parts, rather as the renaissance artists ran their workshops.
It was time for me to go to the court gallery, and for Keith to test his patience at the Internet Café again. We each had a little packet of nuts for lunch. Back at the court, there was a long queue of people on a tour waiting to go in and watch. A very well dressed party of older people turned out to be retired American judges, there for over a month to help out with the information section. The tourists did not last long, and with no build up to the afternoon session, it would have been difficult to follow. It was not long until only five of us were left. Two of the others, French speaking Africans, seemed to have a more personal interest than me and met with one of the defence team afterwards.
I was a little late in for the afternoon session, and the Major, who was fiddling with his papers, was just saying that he had nothing to do with the massacre of the Belgians. I gathered that the prosecution was questioning him about the massacres that happened between April 6th until May 4th. Earlier the Prosecution had suggested that the fact that the Prime Minister was a Tutsi was a crucial factor in her murder, and he suggested that the Major had told his men that the Tutsis were to blame for the death of the President and so they should pay. So indirectly he had incited a revenge act from his men. The Major denied it. Many Tutsis were killed and Tutsi women were raped, allegedly by members of the Major’s Reccy Battalion, but the Major said that nothing had been reported to him. Finally the prosecution finished with the witness, after a lot more questioning.
The defence lawyer focused on some evidence in a statement that was later retracted, given in Belgium, allegedly after torture, by a witness who was then murdered. He then asked questions that allowed the Major to give an uncontested account of how he had spent the night of April 6th and the morning of April 7th. The rest of the defence time was spent in attacking the prosecution and I thought that it was a bit of a poor effort on behalf of someone who is in detention and accused of war crimes. However the defence team’s skills really shone when it came to making objections to the tabling of exhibits, with the many defence lawyers representing other clients (yet to be seen in this complex trial), leaping to their feet to support each other’s and the Major’s defence team’s objections to the document containing the statement that was retracted. A new witness had been called, but after all the legal posturing, time had run out and the court was adjourned for the day. Not before the question of when the next session would be held was answered and the judge said that he would sit as late as was needed, and an elderly defence lawyer had said that maybe not all members required to be in the court would have his stamina or health.
The indictment was a very long document, and both the Defence and Prosecution referred to it. It included conspiracy to commit genocide. The official at the gallery told me that it would be possible to obtain a file with all the background to the current trial, but it turned out to involve a different security check at a different place, and although I tried twice over the next days, the press office was never open. Perhaps when we are home, we will learn more.
I went into town to buy a new notebook, with my notes of the trial having just about used the last pages of my old one. I bought a fabric for Holly that I had eyed off for the last few days. Keith was already home. Our old café had pizzas listed on their menu, and they were very intrigued by me tracing circles on the table to try to find out what size the pizzas were. No wonder – their pizzas were not round, but like a pastie with a thin filling which had been fried in oil.
It was candle power again, and so a very early night.
In a country that has standard for construction site safety as demonstrated below, it was impressive to see a street cleaner wearing a mask.
Below: The bicycle is the form of transport of choice for millions of Tanzanians.
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