A French investigation has concluded that Rwandan President Paul Kagame was behind the fatal 1994 downing of a plane carrying his predecessor, an event that set off the Rwandan genocide, a French newspaper reported.
The daily Le Monde said Wednesday the investigation into President Juvenal Habyarimana's death also implicates 10 other prominent members of Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), the former Tutsi rebel movement that has been in power since July 1994.
The French newspaper said the findings are contained in a 220-page report dated Jan. 30 but not yet turned over to the Paris prosecutor's office.
Rwandan Information Minister Laurent Nkusi dismissed the report as unsubstantiated and suggested it was politically motivated. France had close ties with the Habyarimana regime.
"They don't have any element proving beyond doubt that what they say is true," Nkusi said.
"The timing at the beginning of the commemoration is badly chosen," he said, referring to upcoming ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the genocide. "The report basically says this regime in Kigali is responsible for the genocide. That is a paradox. We know the RPF has saved many survivors."
The report concludes France's six-year-long investigation into the April 6, 1994, attack that killed Habyarimana and unleashed the slaughter of more than 500,000 Rwandans.
Those killed were mainly minority Tutsis and politically moderate members of the Hutu majority. The 100-day slaughter ended when rebels led by Kagame overthrew the extremist government in July 1994.
Hutu extremists in the army and government at the time have long been thought responsible for killing Habyarimana -- also a Hutu -- in a bid to sabotage his efforts to implement a power-sharing deal with the Tutsi-led RPF.
However, the report, as quoted by Le Monde, designates Kagame as the chief decision-maker in the attack, heading a list of 10 other RPF officers and two others who operated the two ground-to-air missiles used in the attack.
The French investigation was based on the testimony from hundreds of people, including a member of the "commando network" allegedly under the command of Kagame and charged with carrying out the attack, according to Le Monde.
The French report also alleges that the UN was obstructing the investigation into the attack. It obtained the black box of the downed aircraft and transferred it to its New York headquarters in 1994 without ever investigating, according to Le Monde.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
RSS