Rwanda-Backed Report Alleges France's

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Rwanda-Backed Report Alleges France’s Role in 1994 Genocide Philippe Sotto New York Times, December 13, 2017 KIGALI, Rwanda – A new re- took part" in the Rwandan genocide. port commissioned by Rwanda’s go- It said the French legal system has al- vernment accuses France of supplying ready convicted several people and was weapons and protection to the perpe- examining several more cases. trators of its 1994 genocide in which The new report underscores the in- over 800,000 people were killed, deepe- creasingly strained relations between ning a feud between the East African France and Rwandan President Paul country and its former benefactor. Kagame’s government, which recently The report by U.S. law firm Cun- recalled its ambassador. ningham Levy Muse cites evidence Last year Rwanda published a list that purportedly shows French compli- of 22 French senior military officers it city before, during and after the geno- accused of helping plan and carry out cide by ethnic Hutu extremists against the genocide, including Gen. Jacques ethnic Tutsi and some Hutu mode- Lanxade, France’s army chief of staff rates. from April 1991 to Sept. 1995. French officials provided safe sanc- The publication of the list came af- tuary to some genocide suspects and ter French investigators reopened an have obstructed attempts to bring inquiry into the plane crash that killed them to justice, the report says. Rwanda’s president and sparked the The report is "a damning summary genocide. Militants from the Hutu ma- of conduct by French officials" at the jority blamed minority Tutsis for the time of the genocide, Rwandan Foreign death of President Juvenal Habyari- Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said in mana, an ethnic Hutu, sparking the the report. slaughter. In a statement to The Associated Press, the French foreign ministry said The cause of the crash has been it has "taken note" of the report provi- a contentious issue. The plane had a ded by the law firm "at the request of French crew. the Rwandan authorities." ___ The statement said France is "fully Associated Press writer Philippe committed to prosecuting those who Sotto in Paris contributed. 1.

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