{"id":2000108019,"date":"2026-04-09T11:10:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T09:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000108019"},"modified":"2026-04-10T11:00:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:00:52","slug":"we-see-no-benefit-in-the-tutsi-mitterrand-four-years-before-the-genocide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/we-see-no-benefit-in-the-tutsi-mitterrand-four-years-before-the-genocide\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe see no benefit in the Tutsi\u201d \u2013 Mitterrand four years before the genocide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Both individuals shared a common disdain for the Tutsi, which they publicly demonstrated in speeches, writings, and actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 17, 1990, Mitterrand chaired a Cabinet meeting in his government, discussing issues related to France, such as trips made by certain leaders to Saudi Arabia, Japan, the plan to extract Uranium from Niger, France\u2019s interests in Madagascar, and other matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The subject that took up the majority of the discussion was Rwanda. At that time, the Minister of Security was Pierre Joxe. Mitterrand expressed that the Tutsi were of no concern to him and that, even if they achieved their objectives, the Hutu would once again oppress them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minutes of the meeting state: \u201cThe President of the Republic emphasised that the purpose of our military mission in Rwanda is solely to protect our citizens [the French].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrance does not wish to involve itself in the ethnic conflicts occurring within the country. However, there is no interest in seeing a small group of Tutsi overpower the majority Hutu population.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the meeting, Mitterrand further stated that even though the Tutsi had endured prolonged oppression, it would ultimately lead to nothing. The Hutu, he predicted, would unite and defeat them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He remarked, \u201cEven if the rebels prevail, the Hutu of Rwanda and neighbouring countries will soon unite and overthrow the government. We will continue to maintain good relations with the Rwandan government, which has grown closer to France after developing disagreements with Belgium, its former coloniser.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These statements were made shortly after France deployed troops to Rwanda as part of Operation Noro\u00eet, an operation intended to protect French interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report by the Duclert Commission revealed that these French soldiers went beyond their mission by providing training and equipment to the government forces of Habyarimana. The report indicates that, in the years that followed, France was well aware of the killings being perpetrated against the Tutsi but failed to take any action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The relationship between former French President Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand and Rwanda\u2019s then-President Juv\u00e9nal Habyarimana has often been described as akin to that of a father and son, with their close political alliance widely viewed as one of the factors that shaped Rwanda\u2019s path toward the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The relationship between former French President Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand and Rwanda\u2019s then-President Juv\u00e9nal Habyarimana has often been described as akin to that of a father and son, with their close political alliance widely viewed as one of the factors that shaped Rwanda\u2019s path toward the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":2000108020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[151,133],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000108019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-editors-choice","tag-main-featured-home","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000108020,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/mitterand-2-6030c.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1000,"height":649,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/mitterand-2-6030c.jpg","width":150,"height":97},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/mitterand-2-6030c.jpg","width":300,"height":195},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/mitterand-2-6030c.jpg","width":768,"height":498},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/mitterand-2-6030c.jpg","width":1000,"height":649},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/mitterand-2-6030c.jpg","width":1000,"height":649}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000108019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000108019"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000108019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000108031,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000108019\/revisions\/2000108031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000108020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000108019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000108019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000108019"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000108019"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000108019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}