Global Policy Forum

Italy and the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) have signed an agreement to enforce sentences imposed by the court, the tribunal reported on Wednesday. Italy becomes the fifth country to sign such an agreement with the UN court, after Benin, France, Mali and Swaziland. The tribunal's registrar, Adama Dieng, and the Italian deputy foreign minister, Alfredo Mantica, signed the agreement on Wednesday in Rome. "The signing of this agreement is a very important step which underlines the commitment of the Italian government in facilitating the discharge and completion of the mandate of the ICTR," the tribunal reported. The UN Security Council established the ICTR in 1995 to try the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which claimed the lives of at least 800,000 people.