U.N. to Investigate Killings in Rwanda

The Security Council on Friday ordered an investigation of “acts of genocide” in Rwanda after U.N. human rights envoy Rene Degni-Segui called the tribal massacres there the largest in modern African history and said they were “planned and systematic.”

In unanimously adopting a resolution to set up an investigating commission, the council laid to rest a diplomatic dispute about whether to evoke the 1950 Geneva Convention on genocide to label the bloodletting in Rwanda.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed since April 6, mostly members of the minority Tutsi tribe slaughtered by government-trained Hutu militias.

The commission will be formed by U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and will issue its first findings in October. These could serve as evidence for prosecution of war criminals by an international tribunal.

But no such court exists, and no steps were taken Friday to establish one, so any punishment of the killers and their leaders remains far off.

The United States, along with other council members, was at first reluctant to label the Rwandan massacres “genocide,” concerned that it might create binding legal obligations for the United Nations.

But Secretary of State Warren Christopher said Thursday that the violence was clearly genocide and that an international tribunal should be considered.