{"id":43236,"date":"2021-04-06T11:17:54","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T11:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/prof-duclert-explains-how-france-was-blind-to-the-1994-genocide-against-tutsi\/"},"modified":"2023-02-25T07:56:23","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T07:56:23","slug":"prof-duclert-explains-how-france-was-blind-to-the-1994-genocide-against-tutsi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/prof-duclert-explains-how-france-was-blind-to-the-1994-genocide-against-tutsi\/","title":{"rendered":"Prof. Duclert explains how France was blind to 1994 Genocide against Tutsi"},"content":{"rendered":"

The report analyzed archives on France, Rwanda relations between 1990 and 1994. <\/p>\n

The report of 1222 pages was presented on 26th March 2021 two years, after the delegation of 14 historians started reviewing archives on France, Rwanda relations between 1990 and 1994.<\/p>\n

The report by French historians has revealed that France bears “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” over tragic history that led to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi which took lives of over 1 million victims.<\/p>\n

The report said France had been “blind” to genocide preparations.<\/p>\n

Dubbed \u2018Duclert\u2019, the report blames the then French President, Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand, for a “failure” of policy towards Rwanda in 1994. The findings were made public after years of French official secrecy over links to the Government led by Juvenal Habyarimana.<\/p>\n

President Macron appointed the 15-member commission two years ago, giving them access to presidential, diplomatic, military and intelligence archives.<\/p>\n

Among the archives are those of Mitterrand, who had close ties to former Rwandan President Juv\u00e9nal Habyarimana.<\/p>\n

The commission members include experts on the Holocaust, on the massacres of Armenians in World War I and on international criminal law, all led by historian Vincent Duclert.<\/p>\n

The report was released at a time when President Macron is planning a maiden visit to Rwanda, 11 years after Nicolas Sarkozy came to Rwanda in 2010. <\/p>\n

Since the report was released, politicians including Hubert V\u00e9drine, the former Secretary-General of l’Elys\u00e9e (French Presidency) under Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand leadership; Alain Jupp\u00e9 who once served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense, Florence Parly explained that they were satisfied with findings of the report with findings that the country was blind to genocide preparations but emphasized that it dodged to shed light on France\u2019s open involvement. <\/p>\n

During an interview with Jeune Afrique, Prof. Vincent Duclert was asked whether the report\u2019s findings don\u2019t reflect France\u2019s institutions connection to genocide. <\/p>\n

He explained that revelations by these politicians are among key concerns of the report that need response. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor instance, Hubert V\u00e9drine insisted on our findings that \u2018France didn\u2019t have an open involvement\u2019, a word we used based on reviewed archives on what happened during Genocide,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Duclert observed that Hubert V\u00e9drine wanted to serve with the released report to dismiss facts denying France\u2019s role during Genocide. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrance\u2019s policy towards Rwanda played a role during the Genocide even though French leaders were not aware or willing. This should also be accepted,\u201d he said.
\nThe report by historians shows that France was blind to the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. <\/p>\n

Duclert explains that the statement is based on the fact that the country disregarded warnings of genocide preparations that were taking place. <\/p>\n

Historians that teamed with Duclert indicated that France\u2019s role heavily relies on the country\u2019s poor policy of keeping a blind eye and supporting racial discrimination driven and corrupt Government that fuels violence. <\/p>\n

\u201cLeaders thought that President Habyarimana could lead the country to democracy and peace,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Duclert committee also reviewed documents written by Pierre Joxe who was the Minister of Defense between January 1991 and 1993 who wrote to President Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand requesting for military action against escalating genocide preparations. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is apparent that they are related to Rwanda. He advised that instructions by President of the Republic should be released in a written form. However, Hubert V\u00e9drine denied delivering the message to President Mitterrand,\u201dDuclert.<\/p>\n

The historian also revealed that they reviewed documents exchanged between the Ministry of Defense and Colonel Ren\u00e9 Galini\u00e9, Defense Attach\u00e9 to the Embassy of France in Rwanda and head of military cooperation mission. These letters carried disclaimers that they should be burnt after reading which Duclert highlights affects diplomatic relations. <\/p>\n

The expert committee explained that all archives on France, Rwanda relations between 1990 and 1994 were not reviewed because some of them were not available or denied access to some archives. <\/p>\n

Duclert said that many institutions facilitated the expert commission to access information but some remained reluctant. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is true that two institutions declined to assist us. I submitted two letters to both chambers of parliament at different times and personally met with the parliament\u2019s chairperson at H\u00f4tel de Lassay to request access exchanged documents,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n

After meeting on 3rd July 2020, the parliament restricted the committee from accessing its archives. <\/p>\n

\u2018Duclert\u2019 report also ruled out accusations of wrongdoing by Operation Turquoise, a French-led military intervention in Rwanda.<\/p>\n

Prof. Duclert said that on 16th May, the then French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alain Jupp\u00e9 learnt that Genocide was taking place. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlong with Prime Minister, \u00c9dourd Balladur and Minister of Defense, Fran\u00e7ois L\u00e9otard; they put pressure on President Mitterrand to set up rescue mechanism and stop France\u2019s silence over the killings,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

On 22nd June 1994, the United Nations (UN) on request of France decided to send troops to Rwanda under \u201cOp\u00e9ration Turquoise\u201d to rescue targeted victims. <\/p>\n

A total of 2500 French troops were sent under the mission some of whom had served under \u2018Op\u00e9ration Noro\u00eet\u2019 in 1990 when Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) launched liberation struggle. At the time France was supporting Habyarimana.<\/p>\n

As Op\u00e9ration Turquoise ended in August 1994, French troops helped officials in the Genocidaire Government to flee to Za\u00efre led by Mobutu at the time. Duclert\u2019s report does not however shed light on that support. <\/p>\n

Duclert explained that both country\u2019s relations seemed to reach the end when RPF liberated the country on 4th July 1994. <\/p>\n

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

{The expert committee comprised of 14 French historians recently presented a report to French President detailing findings on the country\u2019s role in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[72,75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-43236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-featured-news-home","tag-homenews","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":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43236","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\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43236"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=43236"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=43236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}