PARIS – Fearing a loss of influence in Africa and the colonial view of the people of its continent, France remained close to the “racist, corrupt and violent regime” responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and remained “serious and oppressive.” Responsibilities, according to a report published on Friday.
But the report – given by President Emmanuel Macron in 2019 and accompanied by 15 historians with unprecedented access to French government archives – involved France in the genocide, which killed 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and contributed to decades of conflict and instability. Central Africa.
“Is France an ally of the Tutsi genocide? If this means that we want to be involved in the genocide operation, then nothing in the archives examined shows this, “said a report released to Mr MacCrone on Friday afternoon.
But the commission said France had long been associated with Rwanda’s Hutu-led government as it prepared for the Tutsi genocide, citing the country’s leadership as a critical ally in France’s sphere of influence in the region.
For decades, France’s actions during the genocide have been the subject of intense debate in Africa and Europe, with critics accusing France of not doing enough to stop the killings or actively supporting the Hutu-led government behind the genocide. Unresolved history has long poisoned relations between France and the government of President Paul Kagame, the Tutsi leader who has ruled Rwanda for nearly a quarter of a century.
Wealthy Macron, who had a colonial authority where he spoke of his desire to re-establish France’s relations with the continent, is believed to have reported it in an attempt to improve relations with Rwanda.
However, the 223-page report, which provides new information from French government archives, is unlikely to resolve the issue of France’s role in the genocide, said Philippe Rentgens, a Belgian genocide expert.
“This will not be good enough for one side, and it will not be good enough for the other side,” Mr. Rentgens said. “So I guess that won’t resolve the issue.”
The report states that the then President of France, France is Mitrand, maintained a “strong, personal and direct relationship” with Rwanda’s long-serving President Juvenal Habiarima, despite his “racist, corrupt and violent rule.”
Mr. Mitrand and members of his inner circle believed that Mr. Habiarimana and Hutus were key allies in a French-speaking group, including Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, then known as Zaire.
The French saw Mr. Kagame and other Tutsi leaders – who had spent years in exile in neighboring Anglophone Uganda – as if American pressure was being exerted on the region.
“The main interest of this country for France is that it is a francophone,” a report written by a high-ranking official in 1990 said, “France’s interpretation of the situation in Rwandan can be seen through the prism of defense.” La Francophonie. ”
According to the report, French leaders misinterpreted the events leading to the genocide by looking at the Hutus and Tutsis through a colonial lens, taking into account the stereotypical physical characteristics and behavior of each group.
In one of the most decisive conclusions in the report, its authors wrote, “France’s failure in Rwanda, the reasons for which are not all its own, can be compared to the final imperial defeat in this regard, all more significant because it was neither expressed nor acknowledged. ”
