VZCZCXRO2422
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHBP #0213/01 0981103
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081103Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0211
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0614
RUEHLGB/AMEMBASSY KIGALI 0011
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 0334

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAMAKO 000213 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
RABAT FOR LEGAL ATTACHE DAVID ARCHEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL PHUM ML
SUBJECT: LIFE TO GO: RWANDAN GENOCIDAIRES DOING TIME IN MALI 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary:  Mali's penitentiary system is home to 14 
Rwandans, including former Prime Minister Jean Kambanda and 
two other Ministers, convicted of genocide by the 
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).  Eight of 
the Rwandans in Mali are serving life sentences.  Under the 
terms of Mali's agreement with the ICTR and the UN, Mali 
covers the prisoners' day-to-day expenses and is responsible 
for maintaining minimum standards of care.  The ICTR is 
responsible for other expenses such as transportation, 
repatriation upon the termination of a sentence, and the 
provision of new infrastructure.  Mali agreed to incarcerate 
Rwandan "genocidaires" in 1999 as a symbol of Malian support 
for African unity.  With the genocidaire serving the shortest 
sentence - 12 years - scheduled to be released this August, 
however, Malian officials are debating a new question: 
whether this individual could, or should, be allowed to 
remain in Mali as a free man.  Mali's National Director for 
Penitentiary Administration also voiced concerns that 
financial support for Mali's Rwandan genocidaires would dry 
up when the ICTR completes its mandate.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
Background: The Agreement with the United Nations 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
2.(SBU)  The first group of Rwandans convicted of genocide by 
the ICTR began arriving in Bamako in 2001. This group 
included Jean Kambanda, the former Prime Minister of the 
interim government in Rwanda during the genocide.  A second 
group of nine prisoners, including former Minister of 
Information, Eliezer Niyitegeka, and former Minister of 
Higher Education, Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda, arrived in Bamako 
in December 2008.  Mali's fourteen ICTR convicts, their 
previous positions, and sentences are: 
 
- Jean Paul AKAYYESU, Burgomaster, Life 
- Paul BISENGIMANA, Communal Mayor, 15 years 
- Sylvestre GACUMBITSI, Burgomaster, Life 
- Samuel IMANISHIMWE, Military Commander, 12 years 
- Jean KAMBANDA, Prime Minister, Life 
- Jean de Dieu KAMUHANDA, Minister of Higher Education, Life 
- Clement KAYISHEMA, Prefect, Life 
- Issa Mika MUHIMANA, Commune Councilor, Life 
- Alfred MUSEMA UWIMANA, Industrialist, Life 
- Ferdinand NAHIMANA, Professor, 30 years 
- Hassan NGEZE, Journalist, 35 years 
- Eliezer NIYITEGEKA, Minister of Information, Life 
- Obed RUZINDANA, Businessman, 25 years 
- Laurent SEMANZA, Deputy Mayor, 34.5 years 
 
 
3.(SBU) Kambanda and his fellow genocidaires ended up in Mali 
under Article 26 of the Statute of the ICTR, which enables 
individuals convicted by the Tribunal to be incarcerated in 
Rwanda or any nation selected by the ICTR from the list of 
countries that registered their willingness to host convicted 
genocidaires through the UN Security Council.  This list 
includes Rwanda, Mali, Italy, Benin, Swaziland, France and 
Sweden.  The 14 Rwandan genocidaires transferred to Mali by 
the ICTR are in a new prison facility in Koulikoro, about an 
hour north of Bamako. 
 
4.(SBU) Under the terms of the February 12, 1999 agreement 
between Mali and the United Nations/ICTR, Mali incurs the 
day-to-day expenses associated with imprisoning the 
genocidaires and is responsible for maintaining minimum 
standards of detention conditions established by United 
Nations Economic and Social Council (UNESC) resolutions.  The 
ICTR is responsible for extraordinary expenses such as 
transportation and repatriation upon the termination of a 
sentence or death of a prisoner.  In addition, the UN/ICTR 
agreed to mobilize financial support for any new 
infrastructure reasonably necessary to help Mali meet the 
minimum standards of detention conditions established by the 
UNESC resolutions. 
 
------------------------------- 
Mali: The Global Good Samaritan 
------------------------------- 
 
5.(SBU) On March 23 the National Director of Mali's 
Penitentiary Administration, Sanidie Toure, told the Embassy 
that Mali originally regarded its arrangement with the ICTR 
as an attempt to make a positive contribution to 
international diplomacy. Toure said hosting Rwandan 
genocidaires was consistent with the pan-African ideals 
enshrined in Article 117 of the Malian constitution which 
 
BAMAKO 00000213  002 OF 002 
 
 
stipulates that Mali may cede partial or full sovereignty to 
realize African unity. 
 
6.(SBU) Toure expressed concern that the Rwandan prisoners 
could become a burden to Mali if the financial resources of 
the ICTR dry up after the tribunal concludes its mandate. 
The Rwandans were originally held with other local inmates in 
Bamako's Central Prison - in 2006 prison wardens placed an 
arrested AmCit in the Rwandans' cell for one week, apparently 
because some of the Rwandans also spoke English.  Since the 
Central Prison did not conform to the minimum detention 
conditions specified by UNESC resolutions, the ICTR financde 
a facility specifically built for the Rwandans north of 
Bamako.  The Rwandans are now segregated from the Malian 
inmates in the new prison and their conditions are 
substantially superior, with air conditioned cells financed 
by the ICTR.  Toure wondered whose jurisdiction these inmates 
would fall under in five or ten years' time. 
 
7.(SBU)  With the first of the genocidaires, Samuel 
Imanishimwe, scheduled for release in August 2009, Malian 
prison authorities are concerned about what will become of 
the prisoners once their sentences have been served. 
Imansihimwe was orginally sentenced to 27 years for torturing 
and killing civilians.  His sentence was later reduced to 12 
years.  Toure said several of the Rwandan prisoners have 
expressed a desire to stay in Mali upon completion of their 
sentence, perhaps out of fear of returning to Rwanda.  For 
his part, Toure said he believed Malians would have no 
problem living next to "rehabilitated" genocidaires because 
they would have already served their sentences and paid for 
their crimes.  However, Toure did say there would be 
additional costs associated with settling the inmates and 
integrating them into Malian society, and Toure was 
interested to know who would pay these associated costs. 
MILOVANOVIC