Rights group fears new cycle of bloodshed for Rwanda

NAIROBI (AFP) - A new cycle of violence could erupt in Rwanda if authorities fail to protect participants in the grassroots tribunals trying suspects in the 1994 genocide, Human Rights Watch has said.
Genocide survivors groups "have expressed alarm at attacks on survivors and witnesses" since July when the courts began opertaing, the New York-based group said in a report
The study detailed how nine people were killed in November in tit-for-tat killings sparked by the murder of the nephew of a judge for one of the local courts known as gacaca.
The same report also documented how a judge was killed in a separate incident in the same month before his three suspected attackers were subsequently shot dead during a pursuit by police
Alison Des Forges, Human Rights Watch's senior Africa advisor, said such kilings "threaten the delivery of justice" for Rwanda and the survivors and relatives of victims of the genocide which left 800,000 people dead.
"Prompt and effective law enforcement is the way to deal with this threat, not reprisal killings," said Des Forges.
"Reprisal killings have been rare in the past, but if they become more frequent, they could spur a new cycle of violence."
While the alleged masterminds of the genocide are being tried outside Rwanda by a special
United Nations' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> United Nations court, tens of thousands of lower-level perpetrators are facing trial by the grassroots tribunals.
The gacaca courts, which began operating in July last year, can hand down sentences ranging from community service to life in prison.
But the organisation said official investigations into the death of the three suspected of murdering the judge had also left "a number of important questions unresolved".
"An effective and independent investigation into these lethal shootings in custody is essential," said Des Forges.
"In any society, deaths in custody at the hands of law enforcement must be subject to the highest scrutiny. Police officers as well as citizens must be held accountable if they commit