Turquoise (Rwanda) [Notice publiée dans le "Dictionnaire des opérations extérieures de l'armée française - De 1963 à nos jours"]

Andurain, Julie (d')

7 juin 2018

20180607

Turquoise (Rwanda) [Notice publiée dans le "Dictionnaire des opérations extérieures de l'armée française - De 1963 à nos jours"]

DictionnaireOperationsExterieuresFrancaisesTurquoise.pdf

9514115 bytes

6

Nouveau monde

Article de revue

FR

Julie d'Andurain, academic member of the Duclert commission charged by President Macron to analyze the French archives concerning the Tutsi genocide, concludes this article on Turquoise by taking up Pierre Péan, who judges that Paul Kagame is a genocidal and a despot. Is it not the offensive of the Patriotic Front (RPF) led by Paul Kagame which by routing the Rwandan army and its militias put an end to this genocide? This bias calls into question the objectivity of this commission. The attack on President Habyarimana's plane was reportedly carried out with SAM-16 missiles from Uganda. Where is the evidence ? A file from the French Ministry of Defense claims that debris was found. Where are they ? Where is the report of the French soldiers who analyzed them? On the night of the attack on April 6, 1994, the RPF forces driven by Kagame according to the author, break the Arusha accords and undertake to seize power. The RPF did not denounce these agreements. On the contrary, it was the interim government formed with the support of the French ambassador that violated them. The RPF resumed the fight on the evening of the 8th April when the government was announced, where it was to hold five portfolios and after General Dallaire, commander of the Blue Helmets, refused to stop the massacres. The Amaryllis operation order of April 8 published by the Parliamentary Information Mission clearly shows that it is the RPF battalion stationed in Kigali which is being attacked and not the other way around. This operation by the French army could have ordered the Rwandan army (FAR) to stop these massacres, but it did nothing. The author acknowledges that France has trained the presidential guard which was the spearhead of the genocide and even “civil defense units” which merged with the Interahamwe to carry out the massacres. Long before Alain Juppé, the genocide was denounced from April 11 by Jean-Philippe Ceppi in Liberation , while the French forces were still in Rwanda. On April 13, the RPF, in a letter from Claude Dusaïdi to the President of the Security Council denounces the genocide and the lack of international action to save innocent lives and explains why the RPF has resumed the fight against the assassins.The reception at the Elysee Palace and at Matignon of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of this government which organized the genocide was passed over in silence, like the stay in Paris of Rwandan military officers to stock up on arms. The report of the Conseil restreint of June 15 shows that the decision to launch an operation in Rwanda does not come only from Alain Juppé. The operation is a decision for which I take responsibility said President Mitterrand. Security Council resolution 929 stipulates that the operation shall not constitute an interposition force between the parties. The author writes on the contrary that the UN mandates France to lead a multinational interposition force. This is false and it betrays the intention of the French to come to the aid of the assassins. Likewise on July 5, the United Nations asked to move to a second phase that of a safe humanitarian zone. It is still wrong. The July 2 cable signed Verdière to the French representation at the United Nations and the note n° 1830 / DAM of July 5 from the Quai d'Orsay show that the Safe Humanitarian Zone is a French initiative. The outline of the French intervention zone on the map is not exact. The French occupied Rubengera and the N'daba pass where they fought against RPF elements around July 15. Silencing the massacres of the Tutsi in the Bisesero region, which continued with the French soldiers as bystanders and even during the visit of the Minister of Defense François Léotard on June 29, the article claims that General Lafourcade has put all his means against the epidemic of cholera in Goma while it did nothing to prevent this exodus, although mandated by resolution 929 to contribute to the security and protection of displaced persons, refugees and civilians in danger in Rwanda. He was supposed to prevent the perpetrators of the genocide from forcibly taking populations without resources in their flight. The magic trick of turning murderers into victims in the eyes of TV viewers has succeeded perfectly. Finally, Hubert Védrine's “righteousness and probity” is said to be recognized by all. His assertion that under our pressure, Tutsis and Hutus end up signing the Arusha accords would still have to be correct. The delivery of weapons to the Rwandan army (FAR) on January 21, 1994 by a loaded plane in Châteauroux, the acquiescence of Ambassador Marlaud to the refusal to appoint Faustin Twagiramungu Prime Minister on April 8, the landing of weapons for the FAR on April 9, the refusal of the French soldiers to evacuate Boniface Ngulinzira and his abandonment to the killers on April 11, all these facts lead one to think the opposite. Ngulinzira, former Rwandan foreign minister in 1992-1993, was the main negotiator of the Arusha peace accords that extremists refused. Everything indicates that, in their sabotage of the peace agreements, they were supported by France.