French accused of complicity in genocide that killed a million in Rwanda
An unprecedented public inquiry into France's role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda held hearings in Kigali last week, where the French army was accused of complicity in massacres of Tutsi.
The seven-person examining commission is hearing testimony from 20 survivors, some claiming serious human rights abuses, including rape and murder, by the French military.
The commission is also examining Operation Tur-quoise, the 1994French military intervention that was ostensibly aimed at saving Rwandan lives. Human rights groups in France claim French soldiers tricked thousands of Tutsi survivors out of hiding, and abandoned them to the Interahamwe militia. The three-month genocide claimed up to one million Tutsi victims.
Close links existed between France and Rwanda, the tiny African country ruled by a Hutu dictatorship for 20 years. France was its biggest supplier of heavy military equipment, and sent troops in 1990 to help repel a military offensive from Uganda by the largely Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front, (RPF), against the corrupt president, Juvenal Habyarimana.
During nearly three years of civil war, in some instances senior French officers took operational battlefield control. In 1993, an international peace agreement replaced the French with UN peacekeepers, to monitor creation of a power-sharing democracy.
For years, the French government denied any part in the genocide. Its own parliamentary enquiry in 1997, calling the genocide one of the greatest tragedies of the century, admitted only that France had underestimated the threat. But the enquiry did reveal that the former French president, François Mitterrand, had largely been responsible for French policy in Rwanda.
By 1994, the Rwandan army had become a "military protégé" of France. Before the genocide, 47 high-ranking French army and gendarmerie officers were with the Rwanda military. French officers were attached to the élite battalions, the Presidential Guard, the para-commandos and the reconnaissance battalion.
In April, 1994, French-trained officers from the Presidential Guard eliminated the pro-democracy and political opposition and French-trained soldiers from the para-commando and the reconnaissance battalion began killing anyone with a Tutsi identity card.
The Rwanda Commission has evidence that the French trained the Interahamwe, and French officers were in commando training centres, where torture was perpetrated, and where political opponents disappeared.Yet in meetings of the Security Council to decide UN policy on Rwanda, France had sat silent. Later, the then French ambassador to the UN, Jean-Bernard Mérimée, blamed the UK and US ambassadors for the international failure over Rwanda.
During the genocide, French diplomats told the UN many had died as civil war casualties, diverting attention from systematic massacres of civilians. France refused to allow the Council to invoke the 1948 Genocide Convention to try to stop the genocide.
Then after five weeks of murders, France launched its own military intervention, with Council blessing, to secure humanitarian areas for survivors and protect displaced people.This was Operation Turquoise.
The French did create a safe zone, but this allowed the political, military and administrative leadership of the genocide to flee. Although the RPF won the civil war, the national treasury, the killers and 37,000 troops moved to Zaire (now the DRC). This is why there are so many fugitive genocidaires; the ringleaders of the genocide took sanctuary in other countries, notably France and Belgium, where they enjoy protection today.
Linda Melvern is the author of 'Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide' (Verso 2006, paperback)
- 1 Ed Sheeran named ‘most important act in black and urban music’
- 2 Why I'm on the brink of burning my Israeli passport
- 3 Israel-Gaza conflict: ‘Sderot cinema’ image shows Israelis with popcorn and chairs 'cheering as missiles strike Palestinian targets'
- 4 Blackest is the new black: Scientists have developed a material so dark that you can't see it...
- 5 Barack Obama fist bumps Texas restaurant employee in support of gay rights
-
Protesters fight to save Arturo, the polar bear sweltering in baking hot zoo
-
Supermoon 2014 in pictures: Moon appeared bigger and brighter at the weekend
-
Saharan remains may be evidence of first race war, 13,000 years ago
-
Israel-Gaza conflict: ‘Sderot cinema’ image shows Israelis with popcorn and chairs 'cheering as missiles strike Palestinian targets'
-
Blackest is the new black: Scientists have developed a material so dark that you can't see it...
-
Sustained immigration has not harmed Britons' employment, say government advisers
-
War is war: Why I stand with Israel
-
Even when it brutalises one of its own teenage citizens, America is helpless against Israel
-
Socialist Worker called to apologise over ‘vile’ article saying Eton schoolboy Horatio Chapple's death is ‘reason to save the polar bears’
-
Emergency data law: David Cameron plots to bring back snoopers’ charter
-
NUT strike: David Cameron announces crackdown on strike action ahead of mass industrial action
- < Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- Next >
Topman: Tips from top stylists
Shop London has teamed up with Topman. View the latest film clips shot at Topman Oxford Circus, plus your chance to win a £1,500 voucher.
Win a tailor-made trip to Graubünden, Switzerland’s No. 1 holiday destination
Discover Swiss alpine holidays – your way
The Gambia in the Summer
The Gambia may be the smallest country in mainland Africa but this is no reflection of it rich versatile offering.
#fashionhappy film competition
Calling all fashionistas! Enter our film competition to win a £2,000 Westfield Gift Card plus an internship at London Live.
Win a family FreeCycle weekend experience
This summer we’ve teamed up with Prudential to offer readers a brilliant opportunity to get the whole family together to experience the fun and freedom of cycling around a 10-mile traffic-free circuit in central London.
Summer Sports Lux
From silk track pants to a swimsuit to make a splash in, this summer’s sport lux moment is certain to stretch your style credentials.
Get the look. See the trends.
Westfield and Snapfashion team up to create a new digital styling tool. Create a style board or browse this season's trends. #editme.
Get £5 free bet with 888sport
Get a £5 free bet every time your team scores in Brazil!
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Independent Dating
iJobs General
SQL Developer (PL/SQL, Oracle, SQL, Data-Reporting)
£35000 - £45000 per annum + Benefits + Bonus: Harrington Starr: SQL Developer ...
Oracle Developer (PL/SQL, finance, MI) Investment Banking
£40000 - £45000 per annum + Benefits + Bonus: Harrington Starr: Oracle Develop...
C#.NET Developer
£400 per day: Harrington Starr: C#.NET Developer C#, WPF,BLL, MSMQ, SQL, GIT,...
Web Services Developer
£400 per day: Harrington Starr: Web Services Developer Web Services, WPF, C#...