France Makes Archives On 1994 Rwandan Genocide Available To Public - Government

Paris on Wednesday opened archives relating to its role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, the Official Journal of the French Republic (JORF) said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th April, 2021) Paris on Wednesday opened archives relating to its role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, the Official Journal of the French Republic (JORF) said.

JORF is the state gazette publishing major legal documents from the country's ministries, the Parliament, and the Constitutional Council.

"This order provides for free communication ... of the heritage code, archives of President of the Republic Francois Mitterrand and Prime Minister Edouard Balladur relating to Rwanda between 1990 and 1994, as well as copies of the documents cited in the report of the research commission on the French archives concerning Rwanda and the Tutsi [ethic group subjected to killings] genocide (1990-1994), preserved at the national archives," the gazette read.

On March 26, French President Emmanuel Macron received a nearly 1,000-page-long report on the matter from the research team, headed by French historian Vincent Duclert, two years after the latter was tasked to determine the role of France in Rwanda from 1990-1994.

Paris provided military assistance to the then-cabinet in Rwanda against the Tutsi rebels as part of its Francophonie policy and was then accused of indirectly investing in violent massacres targeting the Tutsi population in 1994 due to errors of judgment.

According to the report, Paris was unaware of the fact that its support to the then-government contributed to the genocide. Despite this, France's role in the genocide should be recognized, according to researchers.

Macron welcomed the results of the research and pledged to continue "efforts in the fight against the impunity of those responsible for crimes of genocide," the French presidency said in a press release.

In the meantime, a commemorative ceremony took place in Paris earlier on Wednesday marking the 27th anniversary of the beginning of the mass killings in Rwanda. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo attended the event.

The genocide in the East African country began on April 7, 1994, a day after a plane carrying Juvenal Habyarimana, then-leader of Rwanda and an ethnic Hutu was shot down over Kigali airport, killing Habyarimana and the president of neighboring Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira. The plane crash was followed by 100 days of massacres.

As the presidential plane had a French staff, the Rwandan government denounced France for involvement in the accident and subsequent mass slaughters. France has denied such accusations.

The relations between France and Rwanda slightly improved after Macron set up a commission to determine the role of France in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.