Last month Reuters reported that Rwanda may try to indict several French military officers for their alleged role in aiding the 1994 genocide in that country as well as providing protection for the former Rwandan government as it fled the country in the summer of 1994.
In 1998, a French parliamentary commission looked into the charges and found that there had been “errors of judgment” but no direct French participation in genocide.
Beginning in 1990, the French government had been a major supporter of the Hutu-led government, supplying it with large amounts of military aid and training, including the loaning of French officers. The charges surrounding the French involvement with the genocide include:
- The French continued aid and training even after the Rwandan army began training the militias that would ultimately carry out the genocide.
- According to some witnesses, the French continued to supply arms to the Rwandan military even after the genocide was underway.
- That France’s humanitarian intervention, Operation Turquoise, in June 1994 allowed those who masterminded the genocide to flee to Zaire
Operation Turquoise is interesting, especially given France’s habit of complaining about U.S. military actions in the world. Basically they sent 2,500 soldiers backed with 100 armed vehicles and limited air support. The soldiers largely stood around while the genocide continued just beyond their reach. They did save an estimated 10,000 Tutsis, but they also did the job of providing a rear guard for the Hutu government to escape the advancing Rwandan Patriotic Front army (who the French had saved the Hutu government from on previous occasions). France also did much to create a false impression that the RPF was engaged in genocide as well.
French President Francois Mitterand best expressed his government’s view of the genocide when, at its height, he reportedly quipped that, “In those countries, a genocide is not really important.”
Sources:
Rwanda to indict French officers for alleged role in genocide. Marco, Domeniconi, Reuters, August 20, 2002.