France and the Rwandan genocide

Résumé du document

On November 24, 2006, the Rwandan authorities decided to break off their diplomatic relations with France. This decision was unquestionably linked with the French attitude towards the Rwandan genocide. The Rwandan government lamented on this occasion of the fact that France was refusing to acknowledge its responsibilities in the Rwandan genocide, which resulted in 800 000 victims according to the UN and the Organization of African Unity or the OUA. The worsening of the Franco-Rwandan diplomatic relations is therefore highly symptomatic of the fierce controversy, which currently leads historians as well as politicians and jurists to discuss about the attitude of France towards the Rwandan genocide. Though there is a vast number of studies which have been held on the subject and an overabundant literature on tackling the issue, we strive to handle the subject "France and the Rwandan genocide" in this document.

Extraits

[...] As concerning the Rwandan authorities, they recorded more than a million deaths. Olivier LANOTTE explains in the third Chapter of La France au Rwanda that Rwanda was admittedly Belgium's “private but that France was also showing an increasing interest for this country, with which it wanted to do of the bastions of the French-speaking world” (page 133). FPR was mainly composed of Tutsis in exile and supported by Uganda (African conflicts in International Relations (1945-2005), Marie Gibert, Session Part (page ) François-Xavier VERSHAVE, Autopsie d'un génocide planifié connivences françaises au Rwanda (Mars 1995), in Le Monde Diplomatique : this author also state, in the first paragraph of his article, that at the beginning of the nineties, the French army was supporting the Rwandan regime at arm's length despite its resorting to corruption and racism In the report «Mission d'information commune by the French National Assembly, we can read that France has been the nearest ally to the Rwandan government from the FPR's invasion up to the end of the genocide (Tome 25). [...]

[...] International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda For instance, Dominique NTAWUKURIRYAYO was arrested in CARCASSONNE on October 18th Source: wikipedia, article genocide au Rwanda” (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Génocide_au_Rwanda) International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda PANAPRESS, Plainte du Rwanda contre le juge français Jean-Louis Bruguière (14 avril 2007) (Source : www.afrik.com/article11541.html) http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr (Rubric Pays zone géo > Rwanda > La France et le Rwanda > Relations politiques Philippe BERNARD, KOUCHNER veut réconcilier la France et le Rwanda” in Le Monde (October 2nd, 2007). Une lettre du ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes in Le Monde (October 3rd, 2007) ((African conflicts in International Relations (1945-2005), Marie Gibert, Session Annexes, page 22) Translated from an article by Philippe BERNARD entitled KOUCHNER veut réconcilier l'Europe”, in Le Monde (2nd October 2007) : La réconciliation franco-rwandaise fait figure d'équation impossible, tant les enjeux diplomatiques, judiciaires, militaires, historiques, éthiques en sont multiples, enchevêtrés et terriblement pesants de part et d'autre. [...]

[...] Furthermore, several Rwandan wanted by the ICTR[43] were arrested in France in 2007[44]. At the same time the French justice began to investigate the attack on President HABYARIMANA's plane. It's besides within this affair that the French judge Jean-Louis BRUGUIERE's - who has been put in charge of the case recommended to bring proceedings against the president Paul KAGAME in front of the ICTR[45]. Moreover he advised that a committee of inquiry should be set up to investigate his alleged taking part in the murder attempt against Juvénal HABYARIMANA's plane[46]. [...]

[...] III- France and the Rwandan genocide Since the Operation Turquoise Last but not least, even if voices were raised soon before and during the Operation Turquoise to criticize the French attitude towards the Rwandan genocide, the polemic gained an increasing scope after the Operation. This can besides be noticed by considering the plethora of publications on this issue since then. Consequently, and mainly since France's reluctance to acknowledge one's guilt (III.A) and because of the judicial tangle around France's responsibility towards the genocide (III.B), relations between France and Rwanda remain nowadays much tensed (III.C). [...]

[...] Thus France was not beyond the scope of the internal situation of the country[6]. Still worse, it would seem that the French authorities had at their disposal some pieces of information[7] highlighting that there were a risk of genocide in the region[8]. On that basis it cannot be denied that France was aware of the worsening of the ethnic rivalries in the country. The fact that it apparently did not really tried to avoid the genocide that was looming is therefore arousing harsh criticisms. [...]