{{The Minister of Justice, Hon Johnston Busingye opened on 21 August at Rwanda Peace Academy in Musanze District, a one week regional course on “transitional justice and peace building”.}}
Minister Busingye told participants that Rwanda used homegrown solutions to implement reconciliation and reconstruction of the country after 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.
He cited Gacaca courts as one way of home solutions Rwanda used to trial in a period of 7 years about 2 millions of people that participated in the Genocide.
The normal procedure of justice was found impossible to deal with a big number of perpetrators of genocide, said Minister Busingye.
He cited demobilization and reintegration program, ingando and Itorero defined as civic education, one cow per family among other programs that boosted unity and reconciliation and helped to rebuild the economy of Rwanda.
Minister Busingye said that these are some experiences Rwanda can share with representatives of countries that came for the course.
Walter Bogita Ongeri, participant from Kenya said that they expect to share and learn from each other’s experiences.
Mentioning the genocide against Tutsi in 1994 he said that” we can learn how the good leadership changed this country which had problems”.
He also emphasized that there is a need for Africans looking a way of solving their problems amicably.
Col Jill Rutaremara, Director of Rwanda Peace Academy said that the goal of the course “is to present the concept of transitional justice in peace building contexts”.
He added that the course will provide a holistic overview of the current transitional justice strategies and mechanisms, their nature and practical application, and the challenges and lessons learned that various actors may encounter and apply when participating in post-conflict settings.
The course was jointly organised by Rwanda Peace Academy and UNITAR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.
It is attended by 25 military, police and civilian officers from 6 African countries. The countries represented are the Republic of Burkina Faso, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda.
Source: MOD
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