The report of the General Directorate of External Security confirms that the French intelligence services tried in 1994 to alert the state to the presence of French mercenaries in Rwanda during the genocide, while a report by the organization “Stay Alive” indicates that these mercenaries were in fact acting with the support of Paris.
And the writer Maria Malagaardi says - in a report published by the French newspaper "Libération" - that the events of the novel take place in Africa, in a small country where the French mercenaries who came to help those responsible for the massacres intervened at the exact moment when these officials began to lose Earth in the face of a rebellion that was unexpectedly forcing the criminals in power to step back without giving up their plan for a final solution.
The writer indicated that the genocide against the Tutsi minority in Rwanda in 1994 is an old story that still haunts France;
They are surfacing these days thanks to a report published by Survival, and this dossier titled "Invisible Mercenaries" analyzes some of the General Directorate of External Security's notes written from May to July 1994.
The author explained that this file is a series of reports that were published thanks to the work of the Duclare Commission, which for the first time allowed an examination of the available archives on France’s role in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994;
The commission's report, published in April 2021, concluded that France was "significantly responsible" for the massacres that occurred at that time.
Warnings to the political authorities
The newspaper pointed out that the notes in question from the archives of the General Directorate of External Security were in fact already known to some, and those of interest to "Stay Alive" relate to this turbulent period during which Paris had to deal with allies who became openly accused of crimes against humanity It was the army that France set up and the regime that supported it;
He has contributed to the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi minority that resulted in the deaths of nearly a million people in just 3 months.
The writer referred to these mercenaries, who sell their services to those who pay the most, or facilitate the completion of basic business for countries that do not want to disclose their intentions.
And in Rwanda, it seems that the French intelligence services were fully aware of certain actions of those shadow soldiers who went there several times.
The writer spoke about an interview conducted on June 25, 1998 by the Parliamentary Information Mission - and it was the first attempt to determine France's role in Rwanda - as the interview indicated that the role of French forces in Rwanda doubled within one year, while the head of French intelligence also stressed that this Inflation of the French role responds to "the needs and priorities determined by the political authorities".
The writer continues, saying that it is difficult to imagine that these same authorities would have chosen to ignore information such as the presence of former French soldiers who were diverted to work in special teams in the midst of the genocide in Rwanda, indicating that the talk here is not about anyone, but about the two mercenary soldiers Ebol. Barrell and Bob Denard;
The first is a former gendarme in the French Special Forces, an intervention group of the National Gendarmerie that participated in the creation of the anti-terror cell during the first seven years of French President François Mitterrand, and was very close to François de Grossover, the president’s advisor at the Elysee who committed suicide in mysterious circumstances. On the 7th of April 1994, corresponding to the day of the outbreak of the genocide in Rwanda, Barrell also served in a special security brigade, and soon became omnipresent in the Rwandan file, which doubled the sensations in the media, and his role in the attack on Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane - who served as a signal
The outbreak of genocide - raises many questions.
Bob Denard, nicknamed "Pirate of the Republic", known for his violent actions from the former Belgian Congo to the Comoros, embodies the witty ghost that became legendary, until his death in 2007.
indirect strategy
The writer emphasized that their possible involvement in the Rwandan tragedy has been mentioned several times since 1994, but the notes of the General Directorate of External Security clearly identify and prove some insinuations that could have been denied before, in another note - this time previously unpublished and dated June 17 / June 1994 - French intelligence, moreover, openly linked the projects of Denard with those of Barel, who was at the same time preparing "to provide about 50 tons of ammunition and weapons to the government forces who were, at the same time, hunting down the Tutsi minority for their extermination."
On May 6 of that year, General Christian Quesnot, President François Mitterrand's chief of special staff, wrote a memorandum emphasizing: "In the absence of a direct strategy in the region that may appear politically difficult to implement, we have the means And the keys to an indirect strategy can restore a certain balance."
According to the writer, it should be noted that the name of Agatha Habyarimana, the wife of the Rwandan president, like the name of her son Jean-Pierre, appeared several times in the notes of the General Directorate of External Security, which refer to their unbridled activity in contact with the French mercenary Bob Denard, as is the case with the mercenary Paul Barrell, for "providing ammunition and weapons to government forces" or "bypassing the UN embargo on arms exports to Rwanda."
Without a residence permit in France, and since the rejection of her asylum application, which was confirmed by the Council of State in 2009, which clearly raised the suspicions linked to her involvement in the genocide, Agatha Habyarimana will certainly not be prosecuted for "complicity in the genocide".
However, for the former first lady of a regime that France relentlessly supported, the reports from the DGSE were overwhelming, ignoring all warning signs of genocide, as the Duclare Commission report noted.
slow investigation path
The author pointed out that, however, it is French justice that is still able to shed light on the truth in this research;
Thus, Barrell is targeted due to a complaint of “complicity in genocide” launched by the “Survival” organization, as well as the presence of complaints from the International Federation for Human Rights and the League for Human Rights, and this led - in June 2013 - to open a judicial investigation It's still going.
The writer continues that, therefore, the former Supreme Gendarmerie officer at the Elysee still benefits from the presumption of innocence;
The legal proceedings refer in particular to the contract he was to sign with the Rwandan government in the midst of the genocide, on 28 May 1994, to supply men and weapons for just over $3 million.
For his part, Barrell denies that he signed this contract, but - according to concordant sources - experts in handwriting concluded in November 2020 that the contract signing was indeed his signature.
The writer continues, saying that the judicial investigation is progressing very slowly, despite the importance of this file.
Nevertheless, the hearings revealed an astonishing fact: on their way to Rwanda in May 1994, Barrell and his men stopped at Easter Airport, knowing that no one may land at a military airport, but all the witnesses on the same flight confirmed this strange stop, This cannot be done without the approval of the French authorities.
The author concludes her report by mentioning an incident that occurred a month later on July 1, 1994, during an interview with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, François Mitterrand portrayed Barrell as an “adventurer” and a “mercenary” without giving him any confidence, emphasizing in the process that Barrell "never worked at the Elysee Palace" and "never saw him", which is impossible, which makes us understand what motivated this denial, in the words of the writer.