Rwanda Targets French Leaders for Genocide

Commission says Paris was complicit in 1994 massacres
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 6, 2008 11:47 AM CDT
Rwanda Targets French Leaders for Genocide
Skulls belonging to the victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide are shown in a display case at the Nyamata church, Nov. 24, 2006, outside of Kigali, Rwanda.   (AP Photo/Jody Kurash)

Senior French politicians, including the late president François Mitterand and two prime ministers, were complicit in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, alleges a  500-page report released by the government . The report, which follows a 2-year investigation, also accuses the French military of crimes against humanity. Rwanda's justice ministry said yesterday that it seeks to put the accused politicians on trial, reports the Guardian.

The report is the latest salvo in a long-running struggle between France and Rwanda over responsibility for the deaths of 800,000 people. Two years ago a leading French judge accused Paul Kagame, Rwanda's president and the erstwhile leader of the Tutsi rebels, of ordering the assassination of his predecessor. That claim sparked outrage in the Rwandan government, which says France armed Hutu extremists. (More France stories.)

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