Did France Play a Role in the Rwandan Genocide? Macron Appoints Commission

(Patria) – French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed a commission that will, during a two-year investigation, determine the role of the French army in the Rwandan genocide, Patria reports.

After meeting with members of an association supporting genocide survivors, Macron stated that the nine-member commission will be granted access to presidential, diplomatic, military, and intelligence archives, Reuters writes.

This issue has been a cause of tension between Paris and Kigali for 25 years. Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused France of complicity in the bloodshed in which members of Hutu military groups killed about 800,000 members of the Tutsi tribe and moderate Hutus.

The French President explained that the commission will conduct a 'scientific assessment' of France's role in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994, based on data stored in the archives.

His predecessor, François Hollande, also officially granted access to presidential archives in 2015, but the investigative team at the time complained that they only had a small portion of confidential documents at their disposal, Reuters writes.

During a visit to Rwanda in 2010, then-President Nicolas Sarkozy publicly acknowledged that France had made a 'serious misjudgment, it was a kind of blindness when we did not see the genocidal dimensions of the government'.

Sarkozy also stated at the time that the French UN rescue missions, which were supposed to ensure safe zones, were too small and too late.

The two countries severed diplomatic ties in 2006 after official Paris accused President Kagame and his allies of shooting down the plane of former President Juvénal Habyarimana in April 1994, which triggered the massacre. Rwanda denied the accusations.  

The two countries restored diplomatic relations in 2009, but Rwanda has consistently insisted that France prosecute fugitives responsible for mass killings living on French territory.

The statement from the presidential office about the special commission coincides with the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the genocide.

Instead of President Macron, the commemoration will be attended by Hervé Berville, a Tutsi survivor and member of the French parliament from Macron's ruling party.

From September 2020, French high schools will include a lesson on the Rwandan genocide in their curricula, Reuters writes.