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.
Young Chinese, many who fear age discrimination in their workplace after turning 35, are increasingly starting “one-person companies” that have artificial intelligence (AI) do most of the work. Smaller start-ups are already in vogue in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, with rapidly advancing AI tools seen as a welcome teammate even as they threaten layoffs at existing firms. More young people in China are subscribing to the model, as cities pledge millions of dollars in funding and rent subsidies for such ventures, in alignment with Beijing’s political goal of “technological self-reliance.” “The one-person company is a product of the AI era,” said Karen Dai
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS