No Grounds to Pursue French Army Officers over Rwandan Genocide

The French prosecutor’s department said on Monday that there were no grounds to pursue legal claims that France bore responsibility for enabling the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

France‘s top prosecutor, Remy Heitz, said in a statement that investigations carried out by French authorities could not prove any complicity by French troops in the killings which were orchestrated by the Hutu-led government.

More than 50,000 Tutsis were killed in Bisesero, in the west region of Rwanda in 1994 when French troops were deployed to the country under the humanitarian operation nicknamed Operation Turquoise.

Since 2005, a court case was filed in France by survivors of Bisesero and the national umbrella of survivor’s organizations, IBUKA. They accused the French army of the complicity of genocide and complicity of crimes against humanity.

Between April and July 1994, some 800,000 people were slaughtered, most from the ethnic Tutsi minority but also some moderate Hutus.

A March report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron in May concluded that French authorities had been “blind” to the preparations for genocide and then reacted too slowly to appreciate the extent of the killings and to respond to them.

A week later, the government of Rwanda published a report in which it said that France was aware that genocide was being prepared in Rwanda ahead of the killings.

Ibuka and survivors of Bisesero said the decision was politically motivated.

French President Emmanuel Macron who is expected to visit Rwanda this month has been trying to improve relations with Rwanda, following decades of tensions over Paris’ attitude before and during the genocide.

French investigative magistrates are now in charge of making the definitive decision.

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