Rwanda calls for French officials' indictment

Two articles. The first is a wire service report and the second is an
editorial from the British Financial Times. The report is an indictment of
Social Democrats, such as the late Francois Mitterand who were in power at
the time. SR)

Rwanda calls for French officials' indictment

AFP
August 6, 2008

Kigali - Rwanda's information minister said on Wednesday she hoped a raft of
French political and military officials accused of playing a role in the
country's 1994 genocide would soon be indicted for war crimes.

A 500-page report released Tuesday by Kigali alleged that France was aware
of preparations for the genocide and that French forces in Rwanda
contributed to planning the massacre and actively took part in the killing.

"The government has asked the courts to use this report. We hope that legal
proceedings will follow," Information Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said.

Quoted separately in Britain's Financial Times newspaper on Wednesday, she
explained the report would be considered by the public prosecutor as the
basis for indictments which could lead to the first attempts by an African
nation to extradite European nationals for alleged war crimes.

"We don't believe any French citizen or other citizen is above the law,
especially when it comes to crimes as serious as genocide," she said.

"We hope the French will take this report as seriously as Rwanda has taken
it and, when the indictments come out, will co-operate."

IBUKA, a Rwandan association for genocide survivors, urged France to
prosecute its citizens accused in the report.

"The French judiciary should be the first to bring French criminals to
justice," said its president Theodore Simburudari.

The report named former French prime minister Edouard Balladur, former
foreign minister Alain Juppe and the then-president Francois Mitterrand, who
died in 1996, among 13 French politicians accused of playing a role in the
massacres.

Dominique de Villepin, who was then Juppe's top aide and later became prime
minister, was also among those listed in the Rwandan report, which names 20
military officials as being responsible.

France, meanwhile, accused Rwanda of making "unacceptable accusations" by
alleging that Paris played an active role in the genocide, but said it was
still determined to rekindle ties with Kigali.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/08/07/top16.htm

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Rwanda points a finger at Paris

The Financial Times August 6 2008

Rwanda has produced the most detailed account yet of France's role during
the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The report released in Kigali follows a four year
inquiry. It implicates top officials in the French political and military
establishment, including François Mitterand, then president, his son,
Jean-Christophe, two former prime ministers and a host of military officers.

Some of the allegations are new. Some have been around for a long time. But
the thrust is that Paris gave diplomatic cover and provided military
training and arms to Hutu extremists who carried out the slaughter of 1m
ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. There are new details of training that
French officers gave to the civil defence units that became the Interahamwe
militias responsible for leading the massacres. The report suggests that
Paris was providing arms well after the atrocities had begun. It also
alleges some French personnel participated directly in war crimes. If there
is compelling evidence, they should face justice.

Washington, London, the UN and others were guilty of standing by as the
ugliest chapter in modern African history was scripted. Paris is being
accused of much worse: active complicity in the writing of it.

As could be expected, the French have hit back, describing the allegations
as "unacceptable" and questioning the independence of the government
appointed committee that carried out the inquiry. There may well be
propaganda and exaggeration. The suggestion that French officials knowingly
connived in preparations for genocide might not withstand scrutiny.

But there is substance to Rwanda's accusation that France allowed the
conditions for genocide to develop by supporting a client regime even after
it started committing war crimes. Paris has still to acknowledge its errors
and issue any form of apology to Rwanda - a source of immense grievance to
survivors of the massacres. It also explains why Rwanda has felt it
necessary to put on record its version of events.

This was the nadir of France's relationship with client states in
Francophone Africa. President Nicolas Sarkozy has almost admitted as much,
but he needs to do more. Many leading political figures in France have been
outspoken in criticizing Turkey for its failure to examine whether the
massacre of Armenians during the collapse of the Ottoman empire amounted to
genocide. They cite this as a reason Turkey does not belong in the European
Union. They need to be honest about their own behaviour in Rwanda.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

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