Non-Subscriber Extract
France vs Rwanda: a genocide blame game
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| 11 December 2006 |
In late November, when French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere called for Rwandan President Paul Kagame to be brought in front of an international criminal tribunal in relation to the death of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana in 1994, it unsurprisingly led to a bitter diplomatic fall-out between Kigali and Paris.
Besides the accusations of his alleged personal involvement in the former president's death, Kagame, who led the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) into power in July 2004, must also contend with nine of his close associates (including James Kabarebe, current head of Rwanda's army) being the subject ofarrest warrants issued by Bruguiere in relation to the shooting down of the presidential jet.
Kagame has vehemently denied the allegations. He has also expelled the French ambassador and blocked transmission by Radio France Internationale. He has long accused French mercenaries of helping Hutu extremists to blow up Habyarimana's jet: France had played a strong role in repelling the RPF's initial advance at the beginning of the 1990-1994 civil war, and both the left and right of the country's establishment have long been embarrassed in international circles by their support for the hardline Hutu regime.
On balance, it seems unlikely that Bruguiere's investigation will result in the opening of a fresh international inquiry, given that an investigation by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was terminated some years ago.
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© 2006 Jane's Information Group
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