By a notice lodged at the Registry of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on 5 November 1999, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, through his Counsel, has requested the ICTR Appeals Chamber to stay the operation of part of its Decision of 3 November 1999 by which it dismissed the indictment against him and directed the Registrar to make the necessary arrangements for his delivery to the authorities of Cameroon, where he had been arrested (see Press Release No.209). Barayagwiza’s request for the stay of that part of the Decision is based, inter alia, on the fact that he has no legal status, resources or family in Cameroon.

As directed in the Decision, the ICTR Registrar had contacted the Cameroonian authorities in order to make the necessary arrangements for Barayagwiza to be delivered to them. In his request Barayagwiza asks the Appeals Chamber instead to grant him the liberty to choose his final destination and to direct the Registrar to make the necessary arrangements for his safe delivery to that destination.

In a statement following the Appeals Chamber Decision, the Chief Prosecutor of Rwanda, Mr. Gerard Gahima, announced that the Government of Rwanda has decided to suspend all co-operation and assistance to the organs of the Tribunal. The Tribunal’s Registrar, Dr. Agwu U. Okali, has expressed serious concern at this announcement, in view of the critical operations of the Tribunal (such as movement and protection of witnesses) that depend on the Government’s cooperation, and has therefore contacted the Rwandese authorities with a view to seeking ways to re-establish the former cordial and co-operative relationship between the Government of Rwanda and the Tribunal.