Citation
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France Genocide Tutsi Database
https://francegenocidetutsi.org
Information Letter n° 3, December 17, 2020
The database official address
https://francegenocidetutsi.org
(noted below FGT) is a website
which brings together documents
about France’s role in the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda in
1994 and a search engine at http:
//francegenocidetutsi.fr.
A
backup can be accessed at http:
//francegenocidetutsi.ddns.net
if the official address cannot be
reached. Please note that https:
//francegenocidetutsi.org, http:
//francegenocidetutsi.org, http:
//www.francegenocidetutsi.org
are equivalent.
Nuit et brouillard sur The United States did
not support the RPF
le Rwanda
We have gathered thanks to the
archives of the L’Humanité newspaper available on the web the articles
of Jean Chatain written during his
two trips to Rwanda in the area liberated by the Patriotic Front Rwandan (RPF) during the genocide. Although not aware of the country, Jean
is one of the few to have understood almost immediately the nature
of the genocide and the role played
by France. While he had published
the book Paysages après le génocide
(ed. Le Temps des cerises, 2007), we
convinced him of the value of republishing his articles in a book. UnforState of the database
tunately, Jean died on the 5th December 2019 before the publication of
the book whose title he chose Nuit
It contains over 11,000 documents.
et brouillard sur le Rwanda (Night
The index cards descriptions of the
and fog over Rwanda). This one was
documents are now available in abbreedited by Izuba in January 2020. See
viated. The search engine gives the
http://www.izuba.info.
full version.
New items have been added to the
top drop-down menu of web pages:
- a section “maps” including
the1/300,000 map of Rwanda, an interactive map of municipalities showing the mayors and other officials in
1994, the map of the 5 provinces and
30 districts resulting from the 2006 reform.
AA Artillery
A note from the Belgian intelligence
service of December 23, 1993 observes that two French soldiers listen
to the telephone network. She reports the movement of anti-aircraft
- a section “hate media” with Kan- artillery pieces to the the Kacyiru gengura and transcriptions of RTLM and darmerie and the presidential guard
camp in Kimihurura. A DGSE file
Radio Rwanda.
dated April 7, 1994 (N° 18487/N) will
- a “multimedia” section with links indicate anti-aircraft gun fire at dawn
to videos or radio programs in replay. from the Kacyiru camp and aimed the
The following comments are all re- RPF battalion at the CND. The atlated to documents readable on this tack against the RPF was therefore
planned since a long time.
website.
On March 22, 1994, Prudence Bushnell met Kagame to convince him
to accept a representation of the
Coalition for the Defense of Republic (CDR). He refuses, arguing that
they are “criminals, gangsters, they
threat to kill people”. On March
28, 1994, Ambassador Rawson again
made pressure for the RPF to accept
the CDR. On April 14, 1994, the Secretary of State, Warren Christopher
is convinced of the will of the Interim
Government to secure a ceasefire and
return to Arusha accords. He wants to
prevent a military victory of the RPF
and force him back to the negotiating
table.
Anti-aircraft threat at
Kigali in April 1994
The Belgian C-130 which was to
land in Kigali on April 6, 1994 was
equipped with “ecm” means (electronic countermeasure) because the
Belgian army had been warned of an
“aa” (anti-aircraft) threat. Commander De Troy sent a message on April
5, 1994 requesting special custody for
this plane but, in his hearing on May
29, 1997, he did not want to confirm
that there was a particular threat in
Kigali.
On April 14, the last French plane
took off from Kanombe, activating
its anti-missile decoys “ it during
the flight over Kanombe”, as affirms
the Kibat’diary dated September 20,
1995 and Renaud Girard in the Figaro Magazine on June 25, 1994.
This plane had just been threatened
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by mortar fire that lieutenant-colonel
Maurin wanted to blame on the Belgians.
During a meeting on May 18, 1994
at the Belgian Military Prosecutor’s
Office, it is mentioned that, according to the Pentagon, “Rwanda had 15
missiles”. This refers to the “Ex-FAR
Equipment Summary as of 6 April
1994” sent by the United Nations’s
DPKO on September 1st, 1994.
ther folder more substantiated on the
preparation of the assassination of his
father, the coup and massacres in order to prevent the entry into force of
the agreements of Arusha Peace.
De Grossouvre would
have warned Mobutu
bright, representative from the United
States to the UN, confirms that 500
Belgian paratroopers from the operation Silver Back remained traped
in Nairobi: “Belgian PolOff [political affairs officer] informed USUN
PolOff that 500 Belgian paratroopers
are standing by in Nairobi to reinforce the 400 Belgians at Kigali, if
needed”. Only 400 Belgian soldiers
have been authorized to land in Kigali by the Rwandan interim government (GOR). While this one was
not yet formed, the representative of
France, Mr. Mérimée, made himself
the GOR’s spokesperson to the representative of Belgium at the UN, Mr.
Noterdaeme, as the latter reports it
in his telegram of April 8 in Brussels.
The French authorities, for their part,
have indicated that they have pleaded
with the GOR the cause of Belgium
so that it can land troops. This
April 8, Paris knew that the genocide against the Tutsi was triggered,
as evidenced by “l’ordre d’opération
Amaryllis” and thus made himself the
spokesperson for the killers.
As part of his guilty plea, Jean Kambanda was heard in 1997-1998 by investigator Pierre Duclos. On September 25, 1997, Kambanda said about
the April 6, 1994 meeting in Dar-esSalaam: “Mobutu would have been advised by a senior in the Elysee, the imminence of danger. There would be a
link between the suicide of an Elysée
executive and these communications.
Joseph Kavaruganda’s
murder
In a document of July 2, 1995, Annonciata, Joseph Kavaruganda’s wife,
describes the circumstances of the arrest and murder of the President of
the Constitutional Court on April 7,
1994 by the Captain Kabera Zédécias of the presidential guard. She
believes that Article 7 of the Memorandum of Understanding between
the Government of Rwandan Republic and the RPF on Miscellaneous
Issues and Final Provisions, signed
in Arusha on August 3, 1993 and
which stipulated that in absence of the
president of the Republic, ministers
and deputies took an oath before the
President of the Constitutional Court,
was “ textita death sentence” for this
one. In a letter of March 23, 1994
to the President, Kavaruganda complained of death threats. During his
hearing on October 16, 1995, JeanMarcel Kavaruganda provided a fur-
president’s death was the provocation
needed to put a long-standing plan
into effect. He urged that the United
States encourage French and Belgium
intervention to stop the escalation of
fighting and protect Rwandans.
500 Belgian soldiers
For the CIA, the attack
forbidden to land in
and the massacres were
Rwanda
initiated by Hutu exOn April 11, 1994, Madeleine Al- tremists
Colonel Rusatira
His role is ambiguous especially during the ETO massacre on April 11
1994. But he contacted Joyce Leader,
deputy head of mission in Kigali who
retreated to the United States Embassy in Nairobi. Aurelea Brazeal,
the ambassador, reported on April
12 that he accused the secret organization “Amasasu” to have ordered
the atrocities at Kigali. He said the
A CIA memo from April 28, 1994
says that “in our view politicians and
military commanders from northen
Rwanda unleashed the fighting that
erupted on 6 April”. [...] “Eyewitness accounts of the downing of Habyarimana’s aircraft and the systematic murder of Tutsi and independant Hutu politicians immediately afterwards suggest that the President’s
death was the first step in a hardline
Hutu coup attempt”.
The RPF denounces
the genocide on April
13, 1994
In the absence of International action
to save innocent Rwandan people, the
Rwandese Patriotic Front’s representative, Claude Dusaïdi, declares in
a letter to President of the Security
Council that a crime of genocide is being committed against the Rwandese
people. He has the moral responsability to protect Rwandese people from
barbaric and savage criminals. It is
the intention of the RPF to neutralize
elements of the Rwandese army that
are responsible for these massacres,
New Zealand hands
over its archives
Former New Zealand Ambassador to
the UN, Colin Keating, gave a copy
of the archives concerning Rwanda
to the Ambassador at UN Valentine
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Rugwabiza (The New Times, September 7, 2019 ).
A gift to the genocidaires
Invited to address the Security Council meeting on 16 April 2014, Colin
Keating recalls that a number of
countries mounted a major unilateral
military intervention in Rwanda to
extract foreign nationals, but those
forces then departed. They left the
Tutsi to their fate. in April 1994, he
was presiding over this Council, his
presidential declaration April 30 condemned the atrocities in Rwanda, but
the word genocide has been deleted
“at the insistence of some permanent
members”. The draft declaration presented by Karel Kovanda, representative of the Czech Republic, April
28, 1994, urged the Rwandan Interim
Government to put an end to the
acts of genocide committed by groups
under its authority. Colin Keating
points to the responsibility of the UN
Secretariat, claiming that “the Council was not aware of the systematic
massacre civilians”. At the end of
June, the report of the Special Rapporteur to the Commission on Human
Rights has never been brought to the
attention of the Council. He considers that the decision to authorize Operation Turquoise was a mistake and
that, in hindsight, it is clear that the
downsizing of UNAMIR was “a naive
gift to the genocidaires in Kigali”.
Jérôme Bicamumpaka
at the Security Council
The shameful speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Rwandan interim government of May 16, 1994 is
presented separately on FGT. David
Hannay, representative of the United
Kingdom, had refused to meet (The
Times, May 13, 1994).
« Le Petit Kigali »
This movie, dated June 11, 1994, was
shot by Vincent Munyakazi, owner of
“Petit Kigali”. This restaurant was
the “headquartrt” of the Interahamwe
in Kigali. We see Ephrem Nkezabera,
Chairman of the Committee on Economic and Financial Affairs and the
captain of the peacekeepers, Amadou
Deme, intelligence officer of the UNAMIR, eminently dubious. In an
aside conversation between Nkezabera
and Deme, it’s about travelers checks
(Thomas Cook) that Nkezabera is trying to recover with a view to purchasing weapons. With Michael Hourigan, Deme accused Paul Kagame of
shooting down Habyarimana’s plane
(March 8, 2007).
on the existence of Tutsi survivors in
Bisesero. The scene was filmed by
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. The 29
June evening, he also warned Commander Marin Gillier. The next day,
when this officer did not take into account this information, Sam Kiley and
the reporter from Paris Match Michel
Peyrard introduced French soldiers to
the Tutsi survivors in Bisesero.
Cardinal
death
Etchegaray
Disappeared in 2019, he mentioned
briefly in J’ai senti battre le cœur du
monde (I felt beat the heart of the
world) (2019) his trip to Rwanda at
the end of June 1994 organized by
Franciscan Vjeko Curic. He is rein Butare by 3,000 warriors
Weapons bought in ceived
“armed with machetes” to the cry of
Seychelles thanks BNP “ textitVive Mitterrand”. He meets
a priest “holding a gun in shoulder
On September 26, 1997, Jean Kam- strap”. He dines in the evening with
banda declares before the ICTR in- the prefect and the minister Pauline
vestigator Pierre Duclos that the Nyiramasuhuko. On June 25, he will
weapons delivered in June 1994 were pray in Kibuye “in the large parish
intended for “civil defense”, that is church where floats the smell of 3,000
to say to genocide. It would be the victims who have just been slaughweapons purchased in Seychelles by tered”.
Colonel Bagosora and paid through
the Bank BNP. On his diary, Kambanda noted that he was in Gisenyi French engagements
on June 18 when the first delivery arrived. In his notes taken at the Coun- According to Madeleine Albright,
cil of Ministers on June 17, Edouard Ambassador Mérimée declares to the
Karemera writes that, “for the pro- Security Council on June 17, 1994
tection of economic infrastructure in that France is ready to fight Hutu
the Crête area”, including the antenna militias in order to protect Tutsis. It
and Electrogas at Mount Karongi and seems that the military French misthe Gisovu tea factory, reservists are taked the RPF soldiers for Hutu miligoing to be recruited. He adds: “the tiamen ...
government will make weapons available on order made as part of civil
Rwanda story
self-defense”.
On this site FGT one can find : Journal of the discovery of the source of
the Nile, 1863 ; Charles Lavigerie,
In a video testimony from June 2019, L’esclavage africain, 1888 ; Louis
Sam Kiley, then a Times journal- Baunard, Le cardinal Lavigerie, 1896
ist, tells how he alerted on June 26, ; Richard Kandt, Caput Nili, 1904 ;
1994 a French officer (Eric Bucquet) Rapport Lenaerts sur le territoire de
Sam Kiley Testimony
4
Nyanza, 1929; Paul Rutayisire, His- Special Representative of the Secretoire du Rwanda, 2011.
tary General for Burundi, said he
had been warned of the attack on
Wednesday, April 6 at 9:30 p.m. (2:30
Clara Lanzi Prize
a.m. New York time). He claims
this was not directed against the BuOn November 23, 2019, General
rundian president. He specifies that
Lafourcade received on behalf of the
the Chief of Staff was in Burundi and
association “ France Turquoise” the
did not accompany the President to
Clara Lanzi prize. This foundation
Dar-es-Salaam. Unlike his colleague
was created to rescue factious generin Rwanda, he immediately organized
als who attempted a putsch against
a meeting with the President of Parthe Republic in Algiers in 1961 as
liament, the Prime Minister and the
well as the imprisoned members of the
Chief of Staff of the army to avoid a
OAS, this terrorist organization crepolitical vacuum.
ated by General Salan. With General
Tauzin and Colonel Hogard, General
Lafourcade shares this ideology of the “Damned Soul”
defense of “l’Occident chrétien” (the
West Christian”, a crusade that was In his book “Protéger le Président”
illustrated in the horrors committed (2019), Denis Roux, member of the
by General Franco during the civil war Security Group of the Presidency
in Spain and by Hitler in Operation of the Republic, sent to train the
Barbarossa against the USSR and the Rwandan presidential guard (1991“Judeo-Bolsheviks commissars”.
1993), “has not the feeling of having trained genocidaires”. Before the
visit by Habyarimana at the Élysée
Bantou Myth
(July 17, 1992), François Mitterrand
Jean-Pierre Chrétien sheds light on warns him : “of the danger reprethis myth which is one of the founda- sented by Agathe, the wife or rather
tions of the ideology of the genocide the ’damned soul’ of the Rwandan
against the Tutsi in “Les Bantous, president, known to be in favor of a
from German philology to African au- radical solution against the Tutsis”.
thenticity: A racial myth contemporary” (1985). Mehdi Ba makes a synthesis in “Do the Bantus exist?” (Jeune Afrique, April 18 2016). In “ textitExchanges and Hierarchies in the
Realms of Great Lakes of East Africa”
(1974), Chrétien shows how a feudal
pattern from European history was
forged by the colonizers on the societies of the Great Lakes region.
Lumière et société
These notebooks published by
Bernard Muzungu present the reflections of Rwandan intellectuals after
the genocide. We will read in particular “The race problem in Rwanda”
(March 31, 2009).
archives, which had been until then
refused. Article 15 of the Declaration
of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 is invoked in the statement.
Félicien Kabuga arrest
in France
Arrested on May 16, 2020 near Paris,
Félicien Kabuga had been living since
several years in France and had highranking protections there. It will
be remembered that Michel Aurillac, former Minister of Cooperation
(1986-1988), died in 2017, was lawyer
of Kabuga’s family. On November
12, 1999, French police officers acting with a arrest warrant from the
International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda arrived at the home of Augustin Ngirabatware, Kabuga’s sonin-law and former Minister of the Interim Government. But this one conveniently flew away.
As chairman of the RTLM radio
initiative committee, Félicien Kabuga
wrote or received letters regarding
purchases of material for this radio,
including a transmitter for Mount
Karisimbi.
African Prussians
Gérard Araud was diplomatic advisor to the cabinet of François Léotard,
Defense minister from 1993 to 1995.
In his book “Passeport diplomatique”
(2019), he claims that Edouard Balladur and François Léotard wanted to
withdraw the French troops “ textitAccess
Mitterrand
the most quickly possible”. He assures
Ould-Abdallah
that Operation Turquoise had nothing
archives
In his fax dated April 7, 1994 to
else than a humanitarian goal. But
Marrack Goulding, Deputy Secretary On June 12, 2020, the Conseil d’État he ends up losing his temper writing
United Nations General for Politi- granted researcher François Graner that “Rwanda has become the Prussia
cal Affairs, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the right of access to the Mitterrand of the region of Great Lakes”.
