When your entire life is premised on a lie, you can never know what tranquillity or happiness feels like. Daybreak brings with it anxiety and hopelessness, and as the sun sets, so does your optimism for ever seeing happiness. Thus is the life of one David Himbara, who has to live a life full of perpetual despair, having to justify and account for even his breath. The poor man forfeited a life of comfort provided by his motherland for a life of despair, regret and teeth gnashing.

David Himbara’s life is presently a living hell, having to live like a slave in ancient Arabia, where he has to account for every penny he receives from his puppeteer Rujugiro.  To put it in American slang, Himbara is Rujugiro’s bitch (or biatch). And his predicament doesn’t seem to have an end in sight, for as long as Rujugiro commands the cash, and Himbara remains a desperate unemployed drug addict.

For him to put bread on the table, (or should we say, a joint of cannabis), he has to stay at the top of his game in a smear campaign against Rwanda. While looking for the job, he presented his credentials to Rujugiro and the other bunch of delinquents as someone who knows Rwanda inside out, and could bring its leaders to their knees with a snap of his finger. Almost a decade later, Rujugiro doesn’t seem impressed and the snake oil salesman is getting desperate every passing day, as he struggles to keep the trust of the bigarasha financier.

The endeavour is proving extremely difficult by the day as manifested in the nonsense he has been spewing lately (has anyone read what he was on about ‘leaked’ speeches?). The pay-per-propaganda blog business is proving to be frustrating, because he the man who, when he was begging for the job, said he knew Rwanda ‘inside out’ is fast running out of content. To keep his boss from closing the taps, he has resorted to fiction. Of course Rujugiro is none the wiser, but I am sure one day he will find out that his expert on Rwanda is selling him snake oil. I don’t even want to imagine Himbara without his daily ration of cannabis. Once this happens, Himbara will know the real meaning of someone being on their own and having no one to trust.

The moth seemed to know me from before, or so I imagined. This is a possibility because my imaginations raced along in a camaraderie parallel with my thoughts, at an unprecedented speed. For the first time in my life, my mental faculties stood with one accord and started working long hours going round and round, without necessarily searching for a solution because the situation wasn’t about a solution, but rather, what next, what my fate would be….but I digress.

Yes, the moth. These seemingly brainless small beings tend to demonstrate high levels of intelligence when we give them due attention. Who wants to waste valuable time on a blind moth whose only aspiration is to dance around a source of light? But this was no ordinary moth because its attention was not necessarily drawn to the light that I kept on day and night.

For some strange reason, I noticed that I was unmistakably its center of attention too. For a split thought I found myself musing as to whether this could have been a reincarnated relative. But I am not supposed to entertain such thoughts, it’s contrary to my faith. Had it been a mosquito, I would have been suspicious that its main interest was my little blood. Moths are no blood suckers. They are rather, custodians of light.

The moth was always present, always in surveillance of the perimeter we shared, blindly running into walls and curtains as it flew around  in its endeavor to keep within sight – or rather, to keep me in sight. This one was a playful show off, I mused as I watched from my sitting position on the bed, relieved to have a pleasant and welcome distraction from my desperate thoughts. It flew round and round for as long as it was assured I was following it with my eyes – sometimes with my open mouth with amusement.

Despondent as I was, for reasons beyond my understanding, I found myself connecting with the moth like it were some sort of little friend in a new neigbourhood, looking out for it when it wasn’t around, and following as it performed its comic airshows around the room when it emerged from its nap. At times I thought it was trying to pass some kind of message to me and not merely showing off its flying prowess. Sometimes I found myself trying to concentrate on its moves following it with my gaze from wall to wall, end to end, but I was disappointed that I always failed to decipher its message. The language barrier was too complicated. Moth speak would never be for me. So I gave up trying to communicate and resorted to enjoying the ‘airshow’ and much needed company.

I wondered with bemusement whether this was only one moth or there were several of them in the room to keep watch on me, working in shifts. I found myself wondering whether this moth was male or female (laughter emoji). What I was sure about though, is that this was a supernatural moth, sent to pass to me a message and to keep me company. For the duration of my unpleasant aboard, I got close to the moth, it became a friend, a buddy and confidant.

Too bad I never got to get the message, but I enjoyed the company and I am very grateful my friend. I had to leave. I Hope to see you in this wider neighbourhood someday. I have no doubt that I would recognize you from a million other moths. I will always take pride in having made a friend in the insect world. So long my friend.

The United Nations International Residual Mechanism (IRMCT) for Criminal Tribunals concedes that the work of the Tracking team involves severe challenges, namely the strategies of the fugitives for evading justice include not only change of identity but also a constant mobility across a large belt of East, Central and Southern Africa, and inaccessible areas of the Democratic Republic Congo. However, the lack of collaboration by Governments where these fugitives are hiding is the main bottleneck faced by both the mechanism and the Rwanda Genocide Tracking Unit.

In his latest address to the UN Security Council, Serge Brammertz the Prosecutor for the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, revealed that his office had credible intelligence on the whereabouts of several of the eight Rwandan Genocide fugitives indicted by the court. However, he pointed out that his office had approached a number of Member States seeking cooperation to have the fugitives apprehended without much success. He is not the first UN Prosecutor to complain to the Council about lack of cooperation.

In 2011, the then Chief Prosecutor of the ICTR, Hassan Bubacar Jallow, in his presentation to the UN Security Council complained that the tribunal had encountered difficulties while tracking Protais Mpiranya, who was believed to be hiding in Zimbabwe at the time.

Without naming names, Brammertz lamented that there were ‘a number of issues’ in state cooperation that have frustrated his office’s efforts to secure arrests. Funny enough, calls ignored include about 200 Red Notices issued by Interpol, at the request of the Rwandan government to facilitate the apprehension of Genocide fugitives hiding in different parts of the world

According to Rwanda’s Prosecutor General Jean Bosco Mutangana, DR Congo hosts most of these fugitives with some 356 suspects believed to be on its soil while Uganda hosts 250 fugitives. He states that collaboration of the states in which the fugitives are suspected to be taking refuge is crucial in order to succeed in apprehending those individuals and bring them to justice. It is this collaboration that has apparently been wanting.

But why is it proving so hard to apprehend the fugitives?

Jean Bosco Mutangana observes that most fugitives have found it easy to evade arrest by moving between countries for the last 25 years on the run, evading detection by frequently changing names and identity. The prosecutor mainly attributes this to the absence of a data centre in the country before the genocide against the Tutsi, which effectively means that there were no records like fingerprints or any other data for that matter for majority of the population. Only a section of the population including students and civil servants had any records.

But what exactly motivates some Governments from complying with the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention), and yet are party to the convention that goes with clear and specific obligations to either try or extradite genocide fugitives? Apart from Kenya which is a signatory to the Convention but not Party, all countries in the region are both signatory and party to the convention.

Well, it’s a bag of mixed reasons, including lack of goodwill on the part of the concerned Governments, administrative difficulties and logistical challenges, political reasons and business interests, to point out but a few. There have been numerous proclamation of commitment from countries around the world, but only a handful have been able to act on their commitments.

The most wanted genocide fugitives indicted by the ICTR, including Félicien Kabuga, Protais Mpiranya and Augustin Bizimana and Fulgence Kayishema, Charles Sikubwabo, Aloys Ndimbati, Ryandikayo, and Phénéas Munyarugarama remain at large to date. This grouping comprises individuals who were not only powerful and influential but also stinking rich owing to their positions and connections. Their political connections and money have enabled them to open doors in some African countries with high levels of corruption and governance challenges. In some countries, some of these fugitives have been reported to enjoy protection from entire Government systems or high ranking state officials mainly because of business interests.

In 2011, the then Chief Prosecutor of the ICTR, Hassan Bubacar Jallow, in his presentation to the UN Security Council complained that the tribunal had encountered difficulties while tracking Protais Mpiranya, who was believed to be hiding in Zimbabwe at the time. We are in 2019 and we are unfortunately still singing the same song, lamenting about some countries protecting genocide fugitives. What is unfortunate is that majority of these countries are in Africa, where apart from being bound by international conventions, share African traditional values which scoff at a neighbor hiding a killer.

We are in 2019 and we are unfortunately still singing the same song, lamenting about some countries protecting genocide fugitives. What is unfortunate is that majority of these countries are in Africa, where apart from being bound by international conventions, share African traditional values which scoff at a neighbor hiding a killer.

Brammertz states that the tracking, arrest and prosecution of the remaining fugitives indicted by the ICTR is a top priority for the Mechanism. Of the 90 persons indicted by the ICTR, 8 remain at large. Of these, three have been earmarked for trial by the Mechanism: Félicien Kabuga, Protais Mpiranya and Augustin Bizimana. The ICTR Prosecutor has requested referrals to Rwanda in the cases of the five other fugitives: Fulgence Kayishema, Charles Sikubwabo, Aloys Ndimbati, Ryandikayo, and Phénéas Munyarugarama.

Overall, 19 suspects have been extradited so far, with the latest being Wenceslas Twagirayezu, who was extradited on Tuesday this week from Denmark.

Of these, four came from the United States, three from Uganda, three from the Netherlands, three from ICTR (in Tanzania), two from Canada, one from Norway, one from Germany and two from Denmark.