The issue of French complicity in events leading to the 1994 Rwandan genocide has come up again after a U.S. law firm released a report to that effect. The report was commissioned by the Rwandan government.
The Muse Report, concluded that senior French officials “were aware of and aided the actions and goals of both the Habyarimana government and the génocidaires who seized power after at the inception of the genocide against the Tutsi” and subsequently called for a full probe into their role.
The report compiled by Washington-based Cunningham Levy Muse LLP presented evidence suggesting that France armed the genocidal machinery by among others facilitating meetings of attackers in its embassy in Kigali.
French actors are also said to have provided safe communication channels for genocide masterminds and subsequently habouring fugitives. The further adds that accountability processes are also being tampered with by the French.
The Rwandan government according to a local media outlet confirmed that the report has been shared with the French government. Paris has yet to comment on the latest development in a matter that stoked diplomatic tension leading to the recall of Rwanda’s envoy to France.
Rwandan Genocide.
Foreign Affairs chief, Louise Mushikiwabo said: “Historical clarity is crucial and concerns us all. The Government of Rwanda commissioned the Muse Report to inform our ongoing investigation into the role of French officials before, during, and after the genocide.”
In the spring of 1994, violence erupted in Rwanda after a plane carrying then President Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down.
France provided arms and military training to Habyarimana's youth militias, the Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi, which were among the government's primary means of operationalizing the genocide following the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira on April 6, 1994.
Near the end of the 100-day genocide, French troops were deployed to establish the Turquoise Zone, largely preventing further waves of genocide within the purported safe zone.
In practice, the zone enabled many genocidal Hutus to safely escape to Zaire in advance of the victorious RPF soldiers. The facts related to the French role in the Rwandan genocide have formed the focus of ongoing debate, and diplomatic relations between France and Rwanda have frequently been strained since 1994.
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