France Must Acknowledge Complicity In Rwanda Genocide

FOR MORE than three decades, the question of alleged complicity in the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda has haunted France.

Paris has officially never apologized for its involvement nor taken any responsibility for events leading to the massacre of 800,000 Tutsis, even though it fielded accusations of providing civil-military assistance and political patronage to the ruling Hutu-dominated regime before, during, and after the genocide.

Last month, a report by the Rwanda research commission headed by historian Vincent Duclert, set up on President Emmanuel Macron’s orders, cleared the state of any direct involvement in the 1994 genocide. Although it noted for the first time, that France bears “serious and overwhelming responsibility.”

After the 1998 parliamentary commission’s information mission, this is the second such official report to discharge the authorities from being an accomplice to the genocidal operation.

Notwithstanding, the dismissal of accusations from the highest quarters of the government, Paris-based