Row over Rwanda genocide deepens

Row over Rwanda genocide deepens France has rejected claims made by Rwandan President Paul Kagame that it trained and armed Hutu militias who carried out the genocide 10 years ago. Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said the allegations were false, but that it was not appropriate to comment further while anniversary services continued.

A French minister attending ceremonies in Rwanda left the country on Wednesday in protest at Mr Kagame's comments.

"If they had human hearts, they would have been humble and would have asked forgiveness after seeing what we were commemorating here, instead of having a reaction like that," Foreign Minister Charles Muligande told Reuters.

Mr Barnier told France Info radio that the accusations were "grave" and "false".

"Because we believe that this week is one of remembrance and commemoration, we decided to withdraw in a dignified manner" he said.

1994: RWANDA'S GENOCIDE 6 April: Rwandan Hutu President Habyarimana killed when plane shot down April -July: An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus killed July: Tutsi-led rebel movement RPF captures Rwanda's capital Kigali July: Two million Hutus flee to Zaire, now the DRC

"We shall now look at the situation in detail, but in view of what is happening this week, I do not want to add anything at this point," he added.

Tens of thousands of people attended Wednesday's ceremony in Kigali, including many survivors of the genocide, who were overcome with emotion.

Earlier, a national memorial was unveiled to the dead, on a hilltop overlooking the capital.

Keeping the skulls enables Rwanda to deflect criticism of its own failures Kenya Times

A report in Le Monde last month concluded Mr Kagame gave direct orders for the rocket attack on then President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane.

The death of President Habyarimana, a Hutu, triggered the 1994 genocide in Rwanda in which some 800,000 people died, most of them Tutsis.

France became close to President Habyarimana's government shortly after independence and replaced the ex-colonial power, Belgium, as Rwanda's main western backer.

When the Tutsi-dominated rebel army, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), first launched its war against the Hutu authorities in the early 1990s, France sent soldiers to Kigali.

The French helped stop the RPF advance and then stayed on, officially as military advisers right up to the start of the genocide.

The BBC's world affairs correspondent Mark Doyle says it is no secret that the French had officers attached to train and arm Rwandan military units which subsequently committed genocide.

Genocide has been a sad fact of human history since recorded time. It has been present in every culture, ethnic race and in every epoch of the human experience.

The most brutal and efficient episodes of genocides have been when a people's own government turns against them. Just the recent 20th century history of the Turkish Government killing Turkish Armenians (1.5 million), the Soviet Government killing Ukrainians/Russian political opponents (20 million), the Nazi Regime killing German Jews/political opponents (20 million), the Chinese Government killing Chinese political opponents (35 million), the Khmer Rouge Regime killing fellow Cambodian educated persons (2 million) and the Rwandan Government killing Rwandan Tutsis (1 million) make this argument crystal clear.

How do governments kill so many of their own people? That is easy to answer. These governments had the power and the people, the victims, were unable to resist.

In all the above examples, the governments first disarmed their own people (usually for "crime control" and to "make the streets safer"). Once citizens can no longer be trusted with their own defense or arms, they are easy pickings when persons with hate take over that government. Unfortunately, we will repeat these lessons again and again. The U.N. Security Council, France or the United States of America can not prevent internationally recognized sovereign states from committing genocide to its own people until it is too late. As is so poignantly pointed out in Rwanda, the citizens of a state can stop genocide if they have the means to defend themselves.

1Thanks for the pic sciencediet :0)>

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Rwanda reacted angrily, accusing France of "not acknowledging its sins".

Hey Rwanda? I know it was ten years ago, but I remember it pretty well. It was RWANDANS killing RWANDANS. I hardly think the French would have trained the Hutus, you don't kill 2 million people by coalescing, collaborating, and denying.

Sounds like someone needs to take a long look in the mirror and think about what's looking back at them.

Owl_Eagle

" WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH"

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