One has to feel sorry for Ben Wallace, the Home Office minister deputed to field a question about the Rwandan genocide yesterday. There are people alleged to be complicit in the 1990s slaughter of thousands who are not only living in this country, but in some cases are drawing benefits including housing benefit. As Wallace had to reiterate, the government has attempted to extradite the suspects to face trial in the now-stable Rwanda, but the High Court has blocked the move.
It is not the first time that the courts in this country have acted in what would seem to be a perverse manner, if it were not for the fact that a non-white nation was involved. It took eight years to extradite Abu Qatada to Jordan, a state which has close ties to the UK, including the education and training of its rulers.
As David Davis pointed out, countries with impeccable human rights credentials such as Canada, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands have seen nothing wrong with the reconstructed justice system in Rwanda and have rendered suspects there.
One can only assume that racist prejudice lives on in the higher echelons of the judicial class in this country. It is high time they joined the 21st century.
The result is an extra financial burden on the UK, and not just in terms of social security payments. The Rwandan authorities have logically requested that, if the suspects cannot be returned home for investigation, then the British authorities should carry this out. As a result, our hard-pressed police have undertaken to do so.
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