"Africa of the Great Lakes: sixty years of tragic instability". The title of the symposium held on March 9 in the Senate did not indicate color. And for good reason: its main vocation was to reflect on "regional and international responsibilities" in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, a highly controversial subject. The genocide committed at the instigation of the Hutu regime then in power, killed around 800,000 between April and July 1994, mainly among the Tutsi minority, but also among moderate Hutus, according to the UN.
"Few subjects are as divisive as the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda and the policy of France in Rwanda", warned at the opening of the conference the Belgian Olivier Lanotte, doctor of political science. "The search for responsibilities is a delicate exercise given the tendency that certain observers have too often to equate with negationism those who engage on the mined ground of the denunciation of the crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF)", rebellion movement who defends Tutsis, added this researcher, author of several books on countries in the region. The tone was set.
A panel of disputed guests
Several political or defense associations of victims of the Rwandan genocide denounce a panel of guests who all have in common to deny or minimize the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda. In a letter sent on February 29 to the President of the Senate Gérard Larcher, the associations "Ibuka France" and "Communauté Rwandaise de France" (CRF) stress that "the number of speakers (...) appear the names of several famous personalities for their incessant work of trivialization, minimization and / or negation of the genocide ".
Among these personalities questioned, the Canadian journalist Judi Rever. In her book "In Praise of blood, the crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front" (2018) ("Praise of blood - The crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front"), she asserts in particular that the RPF, which took power after the tragedy , had been infiltrated by Interahamwe militias, the armed wing of the genocidal regime. According to her, some 500,000 Hutus were massacred by the RPF and this would be another "genocide". This book, which caused scandal, has been judged "negationist" by a good number of specialists on the subject.
Among the participants in the roundtables is also the Franco-Cameroonian intellectual Adrien-Charles Onana, who has been the subject of a complaint by Licra for challenging crimes against humanity. Invited in October 2019 on LCI by Vincent Hervouët, who was to lead the debates on Monday in the Senate, before giving up at the last minute, he said: "Between 1990 and 1994, there was no genocide against the Tutsis, or against anyone. " Licra has also denounced a "conference of shame" in the Senate.
>> "Rwanda, they speak": testify on the role of France in the genocide
Charles Onana is also known for his determination to clear the French army in the Rwandan tragedy and "this despite the proven omnipresence of French soldiers alongside a regime which organized in 1991 pogroms against Tutsis", as the recalls in journalist journalist Maria Malagardis, specialist in the issue. And despite the doubts hanging over the Turquoise operation of the French army, suspected of having been triggered to come to the aid of the genocidal army. "Even Hubert Védrine, then secretary general of the Élysée Palace, finally confessed, during a hearing before the Defense Commission in 2014, that Paris had delivered weapons to the genocidal regime", continues Maria Malagardis. Hubert Védrine, who is also part of the panel of guests.
Finally, alongside them, is also Jean-Marie Vianney Ndagijimana, the former Rwandan ambassador to France who has broken away from Kigali today. In his book "Paul Kagame has sacrificed the Tutsis" ( La Pagaie, 2009), the latter also tries to make the RPF responsible for the extermination of the Tutsis.
Difference in treatment?
Several voices, like that of the President of the Rwandan Senate Augustin Iyamuremye, rose to demand the cancellation of the conference. In France, Senator Christophe Frassa (LFI) expressed his disagreement on Twitter: "The France-Africa Group that I chair does not support this conference. This is not the position of the Senate or of France. History when 'it is tragic does not support negation. "
Symposium on #Rwanda in the Senate: some of the speakers deny the # genocide.
The France-Central Africa group that I chair does not support this conference. This is not the position of @Senat, nor of #France. # History when it is tragic does not support # negation. pic.twitter.com/tycnBmaleV
The Senate itself has cleared itself. Gérard Longuet, who spoke at the end of the conference, said that he was not the organizer but that he had "allowed obtaining a room because of the role played by former soldiers of Turquoise including I support (...) the relevance of the engagement more than 25 years ago. "
Associations launched an online petition, which collected more than 5,800 signatures on Monday afternoon. A measure taken in the absence of having successfully canceled the event. "We tried to alert the senators but we were told that the conference ticks all the legal boxes", explains to France 24 Etienne Nsanzimana, president of the Ibuka association, specifying that the members of his association did not have right to attend proceedings.
"The fact that the Senate cannot refuse this room, and this while the speakers openly made abject remarks about the genocide, suggests to us that there is a certain relativism with regard to the Rwandan genocide. "What would have left a room for Robert Faurisson [Holocaust Holocaust historian]? We can only note the ease with which these Holocaust deniers are offered a platform," regrets Etienne Nsanzimana. And to add: "Doubt is the weapon of the negationists: the damage is done from the moment when the doubt is sown".
With AFP
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