Rwanda: France would have allowed genocidaires to escape in 1994
French soldiers from Operation Turquoise in Rwanda in 1994. (File image) HOCINE ZAOURAR / ARCHIVES / AFP
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Twenty-six years after the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda, the online newspaper Mediapart claims to have had access to a French diplomatic telegram, dating from July 15, 1994, asking the French soldiers not to question the genocidal authorities in the humanitarian zone that they were in control.
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The diplomatic telegram in question comes from the archives of President François Mitterrand's Africa adviser, Bruno Delay.
Documents to which researcher François Graner had access, thanks to a decision of the Council of State.
According to Mediapart
, it all started with a request from Ambassador Yannick Gérard, then representative of the Quai d'Orsay in Rwanda, in July 1994. He wanted clear instructions concerning the attitude to be taken in the face of the presence of genocidal officials in the region. "Safe humanitarian zone", controlled by the French soldiers
of Operation Turquoise
.
The diplomat felt he had "
no choice but to arrest them or immediately put them under house arrest
."
A response on July 15 suggests letting the genocidaires go
But according to the document revealed this Sunday by Mediapart, the Quai d'Orsay, led at the time by Alain Juppé, would have decided otherwise, preferring to let the genocidaires go.
In the response sent by telegram on July 15 to the ambassador alone, it would indeed be suggested to him to use all indirect channels to convey to these people France's wish that they leave the safe humanitarian zone.
This diplomatic cable is signed by Bernard Emié, adviser at the time of Alain Juppé and today head of the French foreign intelligence services.
Could this document reshuffle the cards in the ongoing judicial inquiry claimed for years by genocide survivors?
In any case, for the researcher François Graner, it constitutes “
the missing written piece, an essential piece of the puzzle
” on the role of France in Rwanda.
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