Uganda: France Trying to Cover Up Its Role in Genocide

[Strengthandhonour]

December 13, 2006
Posted to the web December 13, 2006
Alfred Ndahiro
Kampala
Rwanda's decision to sever diplomatic relations with France continues to be a subject of animated discussion among those who have an interest in the political evolution of Rwanda, and the proxy war that France has waged since the defeat of the Interahamwe extremists who masterminded the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The recently published report by Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, now discredited by most legal experts and even those he claims to be his informers, can only be construed as a facet of that proxy war.
From the time of the downing of the plane carrying Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart, credible commentators and analysts concluded that extremists in the Habyarimana government, with the help of the French army, brought down the plane.
Yet, Judge Bruguière brushes this aside and instead indicts the leadership of Rwanda and senior aides of the Rwandan president. In so doing, Bruguière aims to cover the role of the French government, by intimidating Rwandans and attempting to divert them from their effort to unearth the truth about French involvement in Rwanda.
The following are but a few of the facts that Judge Bruguière knows but chooses to ignore:
At the time of the plane crash, the entire airport and the surroundings were under the control of the French soldiers and the then Rwandan presidential guard.
When soldiers of the United Nations peace-keeping force in Rwanda attempted to reach the scene of the plane crash, they were blocked and prevented from accessing it by those same forces. That is how the whereabouts of the black box have remained a mystery to-date, although French officials admitted having it, at some stage.
France trained, armed, and fought alongside the former Rwandan forces before, during, and after the 1994 genocide, just as its soldiers trained the Interahamwe militias.
The Rwandan Patriotic Army fought and single-handedly stopped the genocide.
France continues to harbour and give sanctuary to the architects of the Rwandan genocide, including Agathe Habyarimana, Fr Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, and others, who masterminded the carnage.
Judge Bruguiere's so-called evidence is based on false testimonies provided by genocide fugitives and Rwandan dissidents who aim to use it either to deny the occurrence of the Rwandan genocide or to advance their misguided goals and justify their applications for political asylum.
The French government has never come to terms with the regime change in Rwanda and have worked ceaselessly towards achieving their hope that some day, their former protégés would be reinstated.
In ignoring the above facts, Judge Bruguière's injudicious project serves to advance the broader political enterprise and hidden agenda of the French government.
All this, however, is beginning to crumble, and many legal experts and his alleged informers are distancing themselves from his findings.
One such alleged informer, quoted in his report, is Emmanuel Ruzigana. In a letter addressed to Bruguière on November 30, Ruzigaza draws the attention of the judge to the fact that he was forcefully picked from the airport in Paris and taken to Bruguière's office by his members of staff on March 29, 2004.
In Bruguière's office, Ruzigana was questioned as to whether he belonged to the "Network Commando" and whether he knew the person who shot down the Habyarimana plane. In spite of having denied both allegations, Ruzigana appears in the judge's report as having confirmed the allegations.
Another of his principle informers by the name of Abdul Ruzibiza was a nursing assistant in the north-west of Rwanda, far away from the scene of the plane crash. How such a fellow can claim to be privy to the plans of an operation of such sensitivity boggles the mind. Besides, he is a convicted criminal, having stolen soldiers' allowances before his escape.
A third key witness, a certain Innocent Marara, claims he was privy to RPA planning to assassinate Habyarimana in 1993. Yet Marara joined the RPA in 1994, and not 1990 as Bruguiere claims.
The missiles Judge Bruguiere claims shot down Habyarimana's plane were found to have been a hoax, foisted upon the world by a French Parliamentary mission of information. One of the launchers allegedly used to down the plane still had its missile unfired when it was allegedly photographed after the event.
Finally, Judge Bruguiere, without a shred of evidence, accuses key regional leaders, including President Museveni, of being complicit in the killing of Habyarimana, a thinly veiled political attack on what the French call their "Anglo-saxon" enemies.
There is no doubt that France can do a lot of good for itself by coming clean. It cannot blame Turkey for refusing to acknowledge the genocide of the Armenians in 1915 and at the same time withhold its own 'mea culpa'.
In any case, France, even in its might, should have understood that the Rwandans are a people with a proud legacy of a rich culture, history and values. They will not allow France to subdue and subjugate them.
France should also learn that people who uphold the truth, and who have the right cause, will always triumph. It was so when Rwandans fought the génocidaires on the battlefield, it will be so on the 'diplomacy-field'!

The writer is the advisor in communication and public relations in the office of the President of Rwanda

source: allAfrica.com: Uganda: France Trying to Cover Up Its Role in Genocide (Page 1 of 1)