Rwanda meets with U.N. over genocide

ARUSHA, Tanzania, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda will meet Rwandan officials to discuss a "misunderstanding" over accusations of genocide.

The meeting is intended to sort out matters involving a lawyer wanted in Rwanda for participating in the 1994 genocide, in which 937,000 people died, the United Nations Integrated Regional Information Service reported.

"There has been a misunderstanding," said tribunal spokesman Everard O'Donnell at its headquarters in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha.

O'Donnell was reciting an ultimatum issued Thursday by the Rwandan government, giving the tribunal a "last chance" to take action against those involved in the genocide or to risk cutting all ties with the U.N. court.

O'Donnell said the tribunal would decide soon on the fate of Callixte Gakwaya, a Rwandan lawyer defending one of the genocide suspects before the court.

The Rwandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement Thursday cautioning that the government "finds it increasingly difficult to associate itself with the ICTR under the circumstances."

The U.N. Security Council established the tribunal in 1994 to bring to trial the alleged masterminds and participants in the genocide.