Abstract

Since its inception in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has made some remarkable positive impact in the course of executing its judicial mandate. With its success in arresting, trying and convicting some of the people who were most responsible for international crimes committed in Rwanda in 1994, the Tribunal is widely acclaimed as one of the most important international justice bodies since Nuremberg. Yet in its almost two decades of operation, the Tribunal has registered both accolades and criticisms in almost equal proportions. This article analyses the contribution of the ICTR in securing the future of international criminal justice and also the fight against impunity in Africa. The article does so against the backdrop of the different options that now seem open for Africa in this regard. The central argument of the article is that the experience of the ICTR has taught Africa and the world at large that ad hoc institutions cannot be solely relied upon to effectively enforce international criminal justice. The continent should therefore unequivocally resolve to challenge impunity and atrocity crimes through the adoption of other approaches that are suitable to effective enforcement of international criminal justice. The article proposes some of those approaches.