The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Ms Carla Del Ponte, has announced that the Secretary General has appointed Mr. Bongani Christopher Majola of South Africa as Deputy Prosecutor for the ICTR. Mr Majola arrived in Arusha yesterday and will take up his duties immediately.

Mr. Majola has headed the South African Legal Resources Centre for the past six years and was previously Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of the North in South Africa. He brings to the ICTR a unique combination of excellent legal and management skills.

Mr. Majola is fifty years old and is married with two children. He studied law at the University of Zululand, Empangeni and obtained an LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 1988. He has also taught law and carried out research at the School of Advanced International Studies and at Yale University.

According to the Statute and the Rules of Procedure of the ICTR the Deputy Prosecutor is appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations upon the recommendation of the Prosecutor.

Ms Del Ponte also announced that she had recommended the appointment of Ms Melanie Gertrude Werrett as Chief of Prosecutions. Ms. Werrett a national of both Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom worked notably as the Assistant Chief Crown Prosecutor in London and has long experience as a prosecutor in both Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom.

Introducing Mr. Majola, the Prosecutor said that she was convinced that his skills and experience will be invaluable in improving the functioning of her office and that she expects that he will contribute greatly to the full realization of the mandate of the ICTR.