Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Wednesday said the newly released report commissioned by French authorities on the responsibilities of Paris over the 1994 genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda marks an important step towards a common understanding ofwhat took place.
Speaking during an official annual ceremony to mark the 27th anniversary of genocide against Tutsis, the Rwandan leader said the new report shows the desire from leaders in France to move forward with a good understanding of what happened.
Earlier last month, a commission that spent nearly two years plumbing France’s role in 1994’s Rwandan genocide concluded that the Paris reacted too slowly in appreciating the extent of the horror that leftmore than one million Tutsis killed.
The report said that France bears “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” in the drift that led to the killings, which principally claimed victims from Rwanda’s Tutsi ethnic group.
In May 2019 As , French President Emmanuel Macron ordered the 15-member commission to shed light on what happened in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994.
The commission’s report apportioned blame to France for failing in its “political, institutional, intellectual, ethical (and) moral” responsibility, according to officials in Macron’s office. But the
report says researchers found no evidence that French weapons were delivered to Rwanda after the start of the genocide.
It also ruled out accusations of wrongdoing by Operation Turquoise, a French-led military intervention in Rwanda that has been accused of being a failed attempt at propping up the Hutu-led government in Rwanda.
The report further excluded any “complicity in genocide” by the French, saying there was no evidence of an intention to carry out genocidal actions.
Speaking at the occasion, Kagame also blamed “specialists and human rights groups” who [continue to] remain silent about the obvious dangers, reluctant to say anything that might be seen to vindicate the Rwandan Government.
“The cynicism and hypocrisy reflected in such bigoted narratives, is breath-taking, it is not something we do not deserve and will not accept,” he said.
CU/abj/APA