Rwanda on Tuesday opened a formal probe into 20 French officials suspected of playing a role in a 1994 genocide, in a move likely to further sour diplomatic ties with France.
Kigali has long accused France of complicity in the genocide of about 800,000 mostly ethnic Tutsis at the hands of Hutu extremists, angering Paris and straining relations.
“The inquiry, for now, is focused on 20 individuals whom, according to information gathered so far, are required by the prosecution authority to explain or provide clarity on allegations against them,” Rwandan Prosecutor General Richard Muhumuza in a statement.
This would enable prosecutors to decide “whether the concerned individuals should be formally charged or not,” he said.
Muhumuza said the relevant French authorities had been contacted and that full cooperation was expected.
The dispute centers on France’s role prior to the genocide as a close ally of the Hutu nationalist regime of then-Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana.
The shooting down of his plane over Kigali on April 6, 1994, was the event that triggered 100 days of meticulously planned slaughter.
France is accused of missing or ignoring the warning signs, and of training the troops and militia who carried out the killings. When the genocide was in full swing, it was further accused of using its diplomatic clout to stall effective action.
When it did finally send in troops — in Operation Turquoise — it was accused of only doing so to counter the advance of the Tutsi rebels of Paul Kagame, now Rwandan president, allowing the perpetrators to escape to Zaire, which was later renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
France says its troops were only deployed after most of the killing had happened and that their presence helped save thousands of lives.
French officials insist that any guilt for failing to prevent the genocide is shared by the entire international community, accusing Kagame of raising the issue in a bid to distract attention from what they say is his own poor human rights record.
When contacted, the French Ministry of Defense referred to a statement issued on Nov. 16 by French Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian after a list of 22 high-ranking French officers suspected of involvement was first published by Kigali.
There was “nothing new” in Rwanda’s list, Le Drian said at the time, adding that it was “almost identical to one produced in 2008” and “to say that the French army took park in genocide is a disgraceful lie.”
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
RSS