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| Peace commissioner disapproves ‘eye-to-eye’ justice By Staff Reporter While it was fair and just for those involved in 1994 Rwandan genocide to be punished, reconciliation is still the best option. This is according to the Republic of Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) whose President Dr. Ahn Byung-Ook visited the Arusha-based Rwanda’s genocide tribunal last week. The President has also expressed interest in involving Tanzania for its proposed future network aimed at advocating resolutions in conflicted nations worldwide. Dr. Ahn Byung-Ook stated that the TRC advocates for reconciliation as opposed to retributions for criminals of war in post-conflict states because while the former helps to reinforce unity the latter is likely to brew more bitterness and divide communities even further. “Punishing the offenders may be an effective preventive measure. however, it is usually not the end of the story because some people may find the process unfair or get bittered by the punishment," he pointed out adding that in the end national unity would be more important than 'an-eye-for-an-eye' justice seeking. Dr. Byung-Ook was in the country for a four-day itinerary in which he visited the Human Rights Commission in Dar-Es-salaam and the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda being hosted in Arusha. “Initially we did not see any possibility for our commission to work with Tanzania because this is a relatively peaceful country that has never had any conflict, war or major controversy thus had little in common with Korea,” said Dr. Byung-Ook. “We are however now driven by curiosity how Tanzania has managed to maintain tranquility while her neighbors fight either domestically or among one another, we want to exploit the country’s experience in staying united despite political, racial and religious differences,” he said. According to the commissioner, Tanzania, having hosted various refugees here, can play major role in the global peace missions and the reconciliation network that the Korean commission now intends to establish. The network will advocate for ‘wound healing’ conflict resolutions other than retributions for suspected offenders in post war and conflict countries. "Our commission founded to address the Korean Massacre of 1950s in which over 100,000 were killed have been dealing only with conflict resolutions within Korea but now we want to champion global reconciliation efforts," he added. “We are grateful to Tanzania for taking care of refugees and also for hosting the UN-ICTR where the suspects of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda are being tried, we visited the facilities, met judges and attorneys assisting them next time maybe we will get to see the accused, this was a short notice visitation thus we had no time to file for the procedures involved before seeing the inmates,” explained Dr. Steven Kim. Dr Kim is the head of International Cooperation Team in the External Affair Division of the Commission. He had accompanied the Korean TRC President here. “After Arusha we are heading to Rwanda where we are to experience how the local ‘Gacaga’ tribunals or traditional courts are being conducted there." "Later on see some government officials and possibly also talk to the residents for their views on post-conflict Rwanda and what they feel should be the way forward,"
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