France ‘helped Rwanda genocide suspects escape’ in 1994

PARIS: Authorities in Paris helped suspects in the 1994 Rwanda genocide to escape while under French military protection, according to a diplomatic cable, rekindling Kigali’s allegations France secretly supported Hutu forces behind the killings.

The document, written by France’s envoy to Rwanda and obtained by AFP Sunday from a lawyer researching France’s actions during the genocide, suggested that Paris knew suspects had sought refuge in a “humanitarian safe zone” controlled by French soldiers.

The soldiers had arrived in June 1994 as part of the UNmandated Operation Turquoise to stop the massacres that left at least 800,000 people dead, mainly among the Tutsi ethnic minority.

French envoy to Rwanda Yannick Gerard wrote to his superiors to ask what to do with the genocide suspects, in a cable found in the archives of an adviser to Francois Mitterrand, the French president at the time.

“We have no other choice... but to arrest them or place them immediately under house arrest to wait for international judicial authorities to decide their case,” Gerard wrote, in excerpts of the cable first published by French website Mediapart on Sunday.

The cable was discovered by Francois Graner, a lawyer who works with the victims’ rights group “Survie” (Survival) and who won a years-long battle last June to finally get access to Mitterrand’s archives.

In response, French foreign ministry officials told Gerard: “You can... use all indirect channels, especially your African contacts, without exposing yourself directly, to transmit to these authorities our wish that they leave the Humanitarian Safe Zone.” – AFP