[JURIST] The government of Rwanda and the UN-sponsored International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website; JURIST news archive] on Tuesday resolved a dispute [JURIST report] over the court's alleged hiring of genocide suspects by agreeing to improve information-sharing mechanisms and to conduct background checks on job applicants to avoid the problem in the future. The row erupted when the ICTR successfully pressed Tanzania to release ICTR employee Callixte Gakwaya [press release], a lawyer accused of participating in the 1994 Rwandan genocide [HRW backgrounder] who also appears on Interpol wanted lists. Last week, the Rwandan government threatened to sever ties with the ICTR unless the court fired all employees accused of participating in the genocide.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame [BBC profile] in June criticized the tribunal as inefficient [JURIST report], noting it has convicted fewer than 40 people since its inception. The ICTR was established by the UN in 1997 to investigate the genocide that left 800,000 dead. Reuters has more. IRIN has additional coverage.