Who is Responsible for Genocide in Rwanda?

The Rwandan government has appointed a commission to investigate France’s role in the country’s 1994 genocide. The commission, which is slated to begin work on April 16th, includes Jean de Dieu Mucyo, Rwanda’s Prosecutor General and a genocide survior, as well as Brigadier General Jerome Ngendahimana, a senior officer in the Rwanda Armed Forces (FAR) during the genocide.

The commission’s appointment follows repeated statements by Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, that France played an integral role in allowing the genocide to occur. Most sensational, perhaps, are his recent statements at an event commemorating the 12th anniversary of the genocide:

As Rwandan’s marked the 12th anniversary of the 1994 genocide, president Paul Kagame on Friday accused critics who “remained quiet” during the slaughter, of failing to acknowledge progress made by his country.

“You kept quiet … When these victims wanted your help to survive, you kept quiet,” Kagame told thousands of mourners gathered at church in the west of the country.

“You have no right to say nonsense in the eyes of people who are doing their best to help rebuild the country”, Kagame said at an emotionally charged remembrance day.

In a scantily veiled reference to France, Kagame condemned some foreigners “who were directly involved in the genocide and were even here [at Nyamasheke]”

The lake side village was in the zone of France’s Operation Turquoise, a peace keeping force that worked in Rwanda during 1994 and which the government accuses of having aided and shielded genocide militias.

“Some of those are from developed countries and think they can hide behind that. But you can’t change history. These are facts”, he said.

Not surprisingly, France has always denied Kagame’s allegations, insisting that it did everything it could to minimize the killings:

“Even if French soldiers were, unfortunately, unable to prevent all the massacres … they nevertheless made it possible that there was not a total genocide,” he told France-Info radio. “They truly did all they could to prevent an even more dramatic situation,” he said, dismissing allegations against France as “unfounded and scandalous”.

I don’t know enough about the genocide to venture an opinion on the dispute — and I would welcome comments from those who do. There is no question, though, that France exhibited a disturbing callousness toward the plight of the massacred Tutsis, such as building a basketball court on top of a mass grave:

Mourners during the 12th commemoration of the Genocide gave testimonies on the dehumanising role of the French troops who had camped at Ecole Technique officielle de Murambi. The school has since been turned into a memorial site. “I personally waited for apologies from the French but in vain. The role of the French troops in the killings cannot go unquestioned,” observed one survivor of the infamous Murambi massacre.

An estimated 40,000 Tutsis were killed by militias after being abandoned by French soldiers. Several survivors were still perturbed by the French who set up a basketball court on top of a mass grave that contained thousands of remains. “This act of putting up a basketball court on our people’s remains is aimed at inflicting pain on us and concealing evidence in case France’s role could be questioned in the future,” one Genocide survivor said.

Interestingly, Peter Erlinder, an American attorney at the ICTR who is defending Aloys Ntabakuze, a senior FAR officer facing genocide charges, is now calling for Kagame himelf to be indicted for facilitating the 1994 genocide.

According to him, the court has documents proving, should the Canadians ask for them, that the Patriotic Front of Rwanda (RPF, former rebel movement now in power in Kigali) was the only military force capable of putting an end to the genocide, but did not lift a finger.

[snip]

He has quoted both General Roméo Dallaire, head of the United Nations armed forces in Rwanda at the time, and the former American ambassador in Kigali to further support his thesis.

Erlinder has also mentioned the testimony of a former RPF officer. Abdul Ruzibiza has accused the RPF and its commandant Paul Kagame of having shot two missiles at the plane of President Juvénal Habyarimana, thus giving the signal for the start of the genocide.

Kagame, has said the lawyer, gave his soldiers orders for the final assault before any retaliation acts in reaction to the attack against President Habyarimana’s plane had been noticed in the country.

Moreover, when the Rwandese army repeatedly asked for a ceasefire to interrupt the ongoing massacres, the RPF turned down their request.

Kagame is alleged to have been in person in the stadium of Byumba, a city in the northern part of the country under control of the RPF, during one of these slaughter scenes. Thousands of civilians were supposedly murdered there, points out Erlinder.

Thoughts on Erlinder’s charges would also be most appreciated.