But the UN is unwilling to take the steps necessary, through a special police force, to keep the killers away from the refugees. As Rwanda drifts away from the world's attention, with almost no functioning justice system, the demands for peace and reconciliation and healing of trauma are extremely difficult. We are living on top of a bomb and even one mistake could cause the explosion. The government insists there can be no reconciliation without justice. Most of its supporters, including the main Catholic and Protestant churches, agree but they also accuse the international community of taking too long to set up the machinery needed to investigate the allegations and prepare for the international tribunal which may be set up in Arusha, Tanzania this year.
Genocide is the whole world's problem.
If the tribunal is not launched properly and urgently, Rwandese fear that the old notion of impunity from crime will never be purged from Rwandese political culture. Amnesty is not an option for the government. It would only encourage acts of rough justice in the villages and individual acts of revenge, officials say. A tribunal would also accomplish the task of separating the planners of the genocide from the innocent. Surviving Hutus, many of whom also lost family members, feel they all stand accused of genocide.