PARIS (PA) – The French government bears a “significant” responsibility for “allowing predictable genocide”, a report commissioned by the Rwandan government concludes about France’s role before and during the horror of some 800,000 people killed in 1994.
The report, read by The Associated Press, comes amid Rwanda’s efforts to document the role of the French authorities before, during and after the genocide, as part of measures taken by French President Emmanuel Macron to improve relations with the Central African country.
The 600-page report says France “did nothing to stop” the massacres in April and May 1994, and in the years after the genocide tried to cover up its role and even offered protection to some perpetrators.
It will be made public later on Monday, after its official presentation at the Rwandan Cabinet.
It concludes that in the years leading up to the genocide, former French President Francois Mitterrand and his administration had knowledge of preparations for the massacre – yet they continued to support the government of then-Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana despite “warning signs”.
“The French government was neither blind nor unaware of the foreseeable genocide,” the authors point out.
The Rwandan report comes less than a month after a French report commissioned by Macron, concluded that the French authorities were “blind” to the preparations for the genocide and then reacted too slowly to assess and respond to the scale of the crimes. He concluded that France had “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” in not responding to the drift that led to the massacre that killed mainly ethnic Tutsis and the moderate Hutus who tried to protect them. Hutu extremist groups have committed the crimes.
The two reports, with extensive details, albeit different, could mark a turning point in relations between the two countries.
Rwanda, a small but strategic country with 13 million people, is “ready” for a “new relationship” with France, Rwanda Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta told the AP.
“Perhaps the most important thing in this process is that these two commissions analyzed the historical facts, analyzed the archives that were made available to them and reached a common understanding of that past,” he said. “From there we can build this strong relationship.”
The Rwandan report, commissioned in 2017 from Washington law firm Levy Firestone Muse, is based on a wide range of documentary sources from governments, non-governmental organizations and academics, including diplomatic cables, documentaries, videos and news articles. The authors also said they interviewed more than 250 witnesses.
In the years before the genocide, “French officials armed, advised, trained, equipped and protected the Rwandan government, disregarding the Habyarimana regime’s commitment to dehumanization and, ultimately, the destruction and death of Tutsis in Rwanda.” , is shown in the report. .
At the time, the French authorities were pursuing “France’s own interests, in particular the consolidation and expansion of France’s power and influence in Africa”.
In April and May 1994, at the height of the genocide, French officials “did nothing to stop” the massacres, the report said.
Operation Turquoise, a UN-led French-led military operation that began on June 22, “came too late to save many Tutsis,” the report said.
The authors say they found “no evidence that French officials or personnel were directly involved in the killing of Tutsis at the time.”
This finding echoes the conclusion of the French report which removed France from the complicity of the massacres, saying that “nothing in the archives” demonstrates “the willingness to join a genocidal operation”.
The Rwandan report also addressed the attitude of the French authorities after the genocide.
For the past 27 years, “the French government has covered its role, distorted the truth and protected” those who committed the genocide, he says.
The report suggests that the French authorities have made “small efforts” to prosecute those who committed the genocide. Three Rwandan citizens have so far been convicted of genocide in France.
He also strongly criticizes the French government for not making public documents about the genocide. In particular, the Rwandan government submitted three requests for documents in 2019, 2020 and this year, which the French government “ignored”, according to the report.
Under French law, military and foreign policy documents can remain classified for decades.
But things can change, says the Rwandan report, citing “hopeful signs.”
On April 7, the day of the commemoration of the genocide, Macron announced the decision to declassify and make available to the public the archives from 1990 to 1994 belonging to the offices of the French president and prime minister.
“Recent disclosures of documents in connection with the (French) report … may signal a move towards transparency,” the authors of the Rwandan report said.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame praised Macron’s report as “a good thing”, praising Paris’ efforts to “move forward with a good understanding of what has happened”.
Félicien Kabuga, a long-sought Rwandan for his alleged role in providing killers to killers, was arrested outside Paris last May.
And in July, an appeals court in Paris upheld the decision to end a years-long investigation into the plane crash that killed Habyarimana and triggered the genocide. This investigation aggravated the Rwandan government by targeting several people close to Kagame for their alleged role, allegations they denied.
Last week, a Rwandan priest was arrested in France for his alleged role in the genocide, which he denied.
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AP writer Rodney Muhumuza contributed from Kampala, Uganda.