THE chief prosecutor of the United Nations tribunal dealing with Rwandan genocide suspects, Carla Del Ponte, on Wednesday rejected charges of racism from several court prosecutors whose contracts were not renewed. “These attacks of racism are absolutely ridiculous,” said Del Ponte’s spokeswoman Florence Hartmann. The only criteria for not renewing the contracts was efficiency, she added. Several prosecutors for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, have sent a memorandum to the secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, implying that they were let go because of racism on Del Ponte’s part. Hartmann said that in the past the tribunal for Rwanda had a reputation for its lack of efficiency and the chief prosecutor had been reorganising her office to boost the image of the UN court. In this context, several contracts of prosecutors “who were not efficient enough” were not renewed, Hartmann added. – AFP