user preferences

New Events

Central Africa

no event posted in the last week

France-Rwanda: Socialists and Gaullists haunted by the ghosts of genocide

category central africa | miscellaneous | news report author Thursday January 22, 2009 15:24author by Guillaume Davranche - Alternative Libertaire Report this post to the editors

The arrest of Rwandan Rose Kabuye, the collapse of Bruguière's case and Hubert Védrine's court action against the "Génocide made in France" collective... is the truth finally coming out?

[Français]

hutu.jpg

Fourteen years after the events, the French State has been unable to shake off the ghost of the Rwandan genocide and its laborious attempts to clear its name are failing miserably. The current Rwandan government has never forgiven Paris for having armed, supported and protected the right-wing Hutu regime which sank in 1994 in an orgy of blood, destruction and the extermination of a million Tutsis and political opponents. Paris has never admitted its responsibility and even provoked Kigali in 2006 by ordering international arrest warrants against nine Tutsi leaders of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF, in power), at the request of Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière. What were they accused of? Of having shot down the plane of the extreme right-wing Hutu president Juvénal Habyarimana on 6 April 1994. Following that, the genocide of Tutsis began "in retaliation". The result: the Tutsi leaders would at least be jointly responsible for the genocide of Tutsis! Both Judge Bruguière and the French Foreign Office remain committed to revisionist theories on the interpretation of genocide.

In reality, it is unlikely that Habyarimana was assassinated by the RPF, which had no interest in doing so, since the despot was having to make significant concessions towards a peaceful settlement of the civil war. These concessions were, however, hard to swallow for the Hutu Power hardliners who wanted to spark off the "apocalypse", to use the words of Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, one of the masterminds of the genocide. The most likely theory is that Habyarimana was considered too soft and was eliminated. The missile that struck the presidential plane on 6 April was fired from an area controlled by the Rwandan army and not by the RPF and less than one hour later the right-wing militias began the massacres. In any event, the attack on April 6 should not lead us to be unable to see wood for the trees. The genocide was planned, the weapons were ready, militias trained, the "lists" established. New light on the attack cannot call into question the intent of the "final solution to the Tutsi problem".

Kigali puts a stick in Paris' spokes

On 9 November, the RPF sorted out Paris, allowing one of its leaders, Rose Kabuye, to be arrested. Rose Kabuye will spend some time behind bars so as to force Judge Bruguière to trip himself up. Back on 13 November Abdul Ruzibiza, one of his key witnesses, withdrew stating that he had made up the story of an RPF commando shooting down the Falcon 50. So the file is empty. France will make a fool of itself.

Every government from 1975 to 1994 - centrist, Gaullist or Socialist - supported what the historian Jean-Pierre Chrétien has called "tropical Nazism". When will they recognize it? How will they try to explain it away? On 28 November 2007, the Génocide made in France collective sprayed Socialist Hubert Védrine with red food dye. At the time of the genocide, he was Secretary General of the President's Office and the collective accused him of "complicity". At the trial, Védrine prudently abandoned his claim for defamation, which had led to an investigation into his true responsibility, and contented himself with a symbolic award of 1 Euro for damages.

Guillaume Davranche (AL Paris-Sud)

Related Link: http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/
author by mK - NEFAC (personal capacity)publication date Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:36author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I respect Guillaume Davranche's analysis here, but I think it's important to point out the US culpability in the mass killings in Rwanda. The RPF was funded by the US through Uganda, a US client state. Many in the RPF were in the Ugandan military. The RPF rebellion brought on the crisis in Rwanda. While it was the ruling Hutu powers (supported by France) who launched the genocide they weren't alone in creating the crisis. Another culpable player is the IMF which had imposed austerity measures on Rwanda leading to economic collapse and food scarcity. Today the RPF controls Rwanda and with continued US support drives a civil war in the Congo which has killed millions.

author by Studentpublication date Tue Jun 23, 2009 02:07author email tnprojectinformation at gmail dot comauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

I am a student, working on a multi-media project for my Western Civilization class. I've seen the picture in this article in many places, but so far cannot find who owns the rights to the photo. I have contacted many sites, so following suite, I was wondering if you, or any of the editors, had information as to the original owner of the photograph.

Thank you for taking time out of your day!

Please reply via email.

 

This page has not been translated into Ελληνικά yet.

This page can be viewed in
English Italiano Deutsch
© 2005-2024 Anarkismo.net. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Anarkismo.net. [ Disclaimer | Privacy ]