His Excellency, Koffi Esaw, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of the Republic of Togo visited the Tribunal from 3 to 4 May 2010. The purpose of the visit was to familiarize himself with the operations and resources of the Tribunal and to learn from the ICTR’s multifaceted achievements and challenges within the framework of its completion strategy.

Mr. Esaw was accompanied by the Secretary-General of the Ministry, Mr. Kokou Kpayedo, and the Technical Adviser of the Ministry of Cooperation and Urban Planning, Mr. Kwamee Okoua. The Togolese group was the 3rd francophone African delegation that the Tribunal has recently welcomed to its headquarters, after Senegal and Burkina Faso.

The delegation paid courtesy calls on some of the key principals of the Tribunal, namely the President, Judge Dennis Byron and the Acting Chief of Judicial and Legal Services Division, Mr. Pascal Besnier, representing the Registrar. Earlier, the delegation was given a comprehensive briefing on the structure and work of the Tribunal by the ICTR Spokesperson, Mr. Roland Amoussouga. The delegation also met the Chief of Appeals and Legal Advisory Division, Dr. Alex Obote-Odora, representing the Prosecutor. The ICTR officials commended the cooperation demonstrated by Togo in the arrest of two genocide suspects on its territory and in the transfer of witnesses to the Tribunal for the purpose of testifying.

The delegation expressed interest in learning from the Tribunal’s experience and best practices. In this regard, various working sessions were organized with the Court Management Section for the management of judicial archives and real-time transcript production. A guided tour of the ICTR Library and the United Nations Detention Facility was a highlight of the visit of the Togolese Delegation.