Mitterand & the Rwandan slaughter
Independent (London) - July 3, 2007
Liberty, Equality, Butchery Mitterrand’s role revealed in Rwandan genocide warning
By Alex Duval Smith in Paris
The former French president François Mitterrand supported the
perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide despite clear warnings that
mass killings of the Tutsi population were being orchestrated,
according to declassified French documents.
The publication of the documents in today’s Le Monde for the first
time confirms long-held suspicions against France. The previously
secret diplomatic telegrams and government memos also suggest the
late French president was obsessed with the danger of “Anglo-Saxon”
influence gripping Rwanda. In three months from April 1994, at least
a million Rwandans - mainly Tutsis - were systematically slaughtered
in killings engineered by the Hutu regime to exterminate its ethnic
rivals and repel the Uganda-trained Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
The documents, obtained by lawyers for six Tutsi survivors who are
bringing a case against France for “complicity with genocide” at the
Paris Army Tribunal, suggest the late President Mitterrand’s support
for the Hutus was informed by an obsession with maintaining a French
foothold in the region. One of the lawyers, Antoine Compte, said
France was aware of the potential danger of its support for the pre-
genocide Rwandan government. “Massacres on an ethnic basis were going
on and we have evidence that France knew this from at least January
1993. The French military executed the orders of French politicians.
The motivation was an obsession with the idea of an Anglo-Saxon plot
to oust France from the region.”
Mr Compte said the file of diplomatic messages and initialled
presidential memos, obtained from the François Mitterrand Foundation,
provided evidence that the French military in Rwanda were under
direct instruction from the Elysée Palace. The lawyer yesterday
called on the investigating judge at the Paris Army Tribunal to
interview senior French political figures, including military
figures, diplomats, the former defence minister, Pierre Joxe and
former prime minister, Alain Juppé.
“It emerges quite clearly from the documents that diplomats, the
French secret services, military figures and Mr Joxe wanted France to
disengage from Rwanda, or at least to act differently. But the
president was obsessed,” said Mr Compte.
Among the evidence to suggest France was informed of the mounting
genocide is a diplomatic telegram from October 1990 in which the
French defence attaché in the Rwandan capital Kigali alerts Paris of
the “growing number of arbitrary arrests of Tutsis or people close to
them”. The cable adds: “It is to be feared that [it could] degenerate
into an ethnic war.”
Another diplomatic memo, sent by French ambassador Georges Martres on
19 January 1993, quotes a Rwandan informant as saying that
thepresident of the country, Juvenal Habyarimana, had suggested
“proceeding with a systematic genocide using, if necessary, the army”.
Habyarimana was killed on 6 April 1994 - the date that marks the
start of the genocide - when his plane was shot down over Kigali.
Even though Rwanda was Belgian for most of the colonial era, France
took a strong interest in the country after independence, seeing it
as a bulwark against the powerful influences of English-speaking
Uganda and Kenya.
In the 1980s, French involvement in Rwanda was limited to two dozen
military advisers. But when the Uganda-based RPF began launching
attacks against President Habyarimana’s regime in 1990, France sent
arms and troops. Critics claim French troops stood by and watched as
Rwandan Hutu soldiers massacred Tutsi civilians.
France claims its military involvement was aimed at aiding Hutu-Tutsi
power-sharing. Last year, a French investigating magistrate, Jean-
Louis Bruguière alleged the RPF shot down Habyarimana’s aircraft and
issued arrest warrants against nine high-ranking officials in the
current Rwandan government.
The former French president François Mitterrand supported the
perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide despite clear warnings that
mass killings of the Tutsi population were being orchestrated,
according to declassified French documents.
The publication of the documents in today’s Le Monde for the first
time confirms long-held suspicions against France. The previously
secret diplomatic telegrams and government memos also suggest the
late French president was obsessed with the danger of “Anglo-Saxon”
influence gripping Rwanda. In three months from April 1994, at least
a million Rwandans - mainly Tutsis - were systematically slaughtered
in killings engineered by the Hutu regime to exterminate its ethnic
rivals and repel the Uganda-trained Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
The documents, obtained by lawyers for six Tutsi survivors who are
bringing a case against France for “complicity with genocide” at the
Paris Army Tribunal, suggest the late President Mitterrand’s support
for the Hutus was informed by an obsession with maintaining a French
foothold in the region. One of the lawyers, Antoine Compte, said
France was aware of the potential danger of its support for the pre-
genocide Rwandan government. “Massacres on an ethnic basis were going
on and we have evidence that France knew this from at least January
1993. The French military executed the orders of French politicians.
The motivation was an obsession with the idea of an Anglo-Saxon plot
to oust France from the region.”
Mr Compte said the file of diplomatic messages and initialled
presidential memos, obtained from the François Mitterrand Foundation,
provided evidence that the French military in Rwanda were under
direct instruction from the Elysée Palace. The lawyer yesterday
called on the investigating judge at the Paris Army Tribunal to
interview senior French political figures, including military
figures, diplomats, the former defence minister, Pierre Joxe and
former prime minister, Alain Juppé.
“It emerges quite clearly from the documents that diplomats, the
French secret services, military figures and Mr Joxe wanted France to
disengage from Rwanda, or at least to act differently. But the
president was obsessed,” said Mr Compte.
Among the evidence to suggest France was informed of the mounting
genocide is a diplomatic telegram from October 1990 in which the
French defence attaché in the Rwandan capital Kigali alerts Paris of
the “growing number of arbitrary arrests of Tutsis or people close to
them”. The cable adds: “It is to be feared that [it could] degenerate
into an ethnic war.”
Another diplomatic memo, sent by French ambassador Georges Martres on
19 January 1993, quotes a Rwandan informant as saying that
thepresident of the country, Juvenal Habyarimana, had suggested
“proceeding with a systematic genocide using, if necessary, the army”.
Habyarimana was killed on 6 April 1994 - the date that marks the
start of the genocide - when his plane was shot down over Kigali.
Even though Rwanda was Belgian for most of the colonial era, France
took a strong interest in the country after independence, seeing it
as a bulwark against the powerful influences of English-speaking
Uganda and Kenya.
In the 1980s, French involvement in Rwanda was limited to two dozen
military advisers. But when the Uganda-based RPF began launching
attacks against President Habyarimana’s regime in 1990, France sent
arms and troops. Critics claim French troops stood by and watched as
Rwandan Hutu soldiers massacred Tutsi civilians.
France claims its military involvement was aimed at aiding Hutu-Tutsi
power-sharing. Last year, a French investigating magistrate, Jean-
Louis Bruguière alleged the RPF shot down Habyarimana’s aircraft and
issued arrest warrants against nine high-ranking officials in the
current Rwandan government.