The British Foreign Office Minister H.E. Henry Bellingham on Tuesday 24 May 2011 paid a one-day official visit to the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Arusha, Tanzania, during which he held official talks with senior officials of the ICTR.

During his visit, the Minister, whose delegation included, H.E. Diane Corner, the British High Commissioner to Tanzania and Mr. Nicholas Hopton, the Head of the British Foreign Office’s International Organisations Department met with the President of the ICTR, Judge Dennis Byron and Mr. Hassan Bubacar Jallow, the Prosecutor, as well as with Mr. Pascal Besnier, the Deputy Registrar.

President Byron and Justice Jallow thanked the British Government for its unwavering support to the work of the ICTR. They also briefed the Minister on the current developments at the ICTR and in particular on the Tribunal’s Completion Strategy and the establishment of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.

H.E. Bellingham hailed and commended the work of the Tribunal in promoting international criminal justice and fighting the culture of impunity as well as bringing to justice those who played a leading role in the commission of the crimes of genocide in Rwanda.

H.E. Bellingham also took time to visit the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF), where he was received, taken around and briefed by Mr. Saidou Guindo, the Facility’s Commander.