Several ceremonies took place Wednesday in Paris and Kigali to pay tribute to the victims of the genocide in Rwanda, which began on April 27, 1994. On this occasion, the Rwandan president welcomed the report commissioned by Emmanuel Macron who recognizes the very heavy responsibility of France in this genocide.

ANALYSIS

Twenty-seven years after the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda, commemorated this Wednesday, Rwandan President Paul Kagamé welcomed the report commissioned from historians by Emmanuel Macron.

If this report rules out France's complicity in this genocide, it recognizes "heavy and overwhelming responsibilities".

An important step in the normalization of relations between Paris and Kigali.

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Nearly a million victims murdered in three months

On April 7, 1994, 27 years ago to the day, the start of the mass killings began in Rwanda.

This is the last genocide of the 20th century.

In the early morning, extremist Hutu militiamen launched this genocidal eradication attempt.

Nearly a million Tutsi victims were murdered in barely three months, often with a machete, which could suggest a spontaneous eruption of violence after the assassination of President Juvénal Habyarimana, whose plane was shot down. standby.

But this explanation was not at all the right one.

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The Rwandan government was then fully supported by France

This genocide was indeed carried out with primitive means, but its organization was on the other hand long matured and planned by the most radical fringes of the Rwandan government, while it was fully supported by France.

All this is proven by documents.

The Élysée knew perfectly well what was preparing in Rwanda and the 14 historians of the Commission appointed by Emmanuel Macron are unanimous in this.

Deliberately ignored warnings

These specialists indeed had access to the most confidential reports of the army, Foreign Affairs and even to information which described the establishment by the extremist Hutu power, of a plan of systematic ethnic cleansing with lists of Tutsis to be eliminated, drawn up by the burgomasters in the smallest villages and even in the most remote areas of the country.

All the signals were red, but François Mitterrand then made the political choice to ignore the service warnings.

In a long column published in the newspaper

Le Monde

Wednesday evening, Alain Juppé, Minister of Foreign Affairs under the cohabitation from 1993 to 1995, made his mea culpa.

He finally assumes his political responsibility while saluting the courage of the French soldiers on the ground who, during Operation Turquoise, tried to save the last survivors of the extermination.

But he also draws up this terrible observation on the blindness of the French authorities at the time: "We did not understand that a genocide could not bear half-measures. For nearly thirty years, I bore this wound. for failing to prevent this terror. "