Rwanda accuses France of genocide

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Rwanda’s government ruffled some French feathers yesterday with the release of a 500-page report alleging that senior French military and political leaders had prior knowledge of the country’s 1994 genocide and that French peacekeeping troops actively participated in the killings. Among those accused are the late former President François Mitterand and former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. The French foreign ministry described the accusations as “unacceptable.”

Given that the Rwandan government began work on the report just a few months after President Paul Kagame was accused by a French judge of assasinating the Rwanda’s former president — the event that precipitated the genocide — the report is going to be read with a pretty large grain of salt. Rwanda broke off diplomatic ties with France after that indictment. Even Rwanda’s own minister of justice seemed a bit wishy-washy about what the report actually means:

This is a report of inquiry; it is not a criminal file. It is not a statement of guilt but on the basis of this report, other things can follow.”

As the accusations between the countries continue to fly, it will be interesting to see what these “other things” entail.