Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

France concedes blame in reaction to genocide

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PARIS — A commission that spent nearly two years uncovering France’s role in 1994’s Rwandan genocide concluded Friday that the country reacted too slowly in appreciati­ng the extent of the horror that left more than 800,000 people dead but cleared it of complicity in the killings.

The report said France bears “heavy and overwhelmi­ng responsibi­lities” in the drift that led to the killings, which principall­y claimed victims from Rwanda’s Tutsi ethnic minority.

Persistent claims that France under then-President Francois Mitterrand did not do enough to stop the genocide have damaged the Franco-Rwandan relationsh­ip since the 1990s.

As a result, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered the 15-member commission in May 2019 to shed light on what happened in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994.

Officials in Macron’s office said the inquiry was not just about improving relations with Rwanda but with the whole African continent, because other countries also have questions about what France did at the time.

The commission’s report apportione­d blame to France for failing in its “political, institutio­nal, intellectu­al, ethical [and] moral” responsibi­lity, according to officials in Macron’s office. But the report says researcher­s found no evidence that French weapons were delivered to Rwanda after the start of the genocide.

It also ruled out accusation­s of wrongdoing by Operation Turquoise, a Frenchled military interventi­on in Rwanda that has been accused of being a failed attempt at propping up the Hutu-led government in Rwanda.

The report further excluded any “complicity in genocide” by the French, saying there was no evidence of an intention to carry out genocidal actions.

The report found “malfunctio­ns in the process of appreciati­on of the situation” and the resulting French government and military decisions. But the commission made it clear that its report did not seek to vilify individual­s.

It’s unclear if the report will succeed in improving relations between France and Rwanda — and in particular satisfy Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Macron hoped the document would allow a catharsis, enabling France to put to rest claims that had simmered for more than a quarter-century.

 ?? (AP/Ludovic Marin) ?? Vincent Duclert (right), head of the French commission that reviewed France’s role in the genocide in Rwanda, gives the commission report to President Emmanuel Macron on Friday at Elysee Palace in Paris.
(AP/Ludovic Marin) Vincent Duclert (right), head of the French commission that reviewed France’s role in the genocide in Rwanda, gives the commission report to President Emmanuel Macron on Friday at Elysee Palace in Paris.

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