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France Genocide Tutsi Database https://francegenocidetutsi.org

Information Letter n° 3, December 17, 2020

The database official address Nuit et brouillard sur The United States did https://francegenocidetutsi.org le not support the RPF (noted below FGT) is a website which brings together documents On March 22, 1994, Prudence Bush- about France’s role in the geno- We have gathered thanks to the nell met Kagame to convince him cide of the Tutsi in Rwanda in archives of the L’Humanité newspa- to accept a representation of the 1994 and a search engine at http: per available on the web the articles Coalition for the Defense of Repub- //francegenocidetutsi.fr.A of Jean Chatain written during his lic (CDR). He refuses, arguing that backup can be accessed at http: two trips to Rwanda in the area lib- they are “criminals, gangsters, they //francegenocidetutsi.ddns.net erated by the Patriotic Front Rwan- threat to kill people”. On March if the official address cannot be dan (RPF) during the genocide. Al- 28, 1994, Ambassador Rawson again reached. Please note that https: though not aware of the country, Jean made pressure for the RPF to accept //francegenocidetutsi.org, http: is one of the few to have under- the CDR. On April 14, 1994, the Sec- //francegenocidetutsi.org, http: stood almost immediately the nature retary of State, Warren Christopher //www.francegenocidetutsi.org of the genocide and the role played is convinced of the will of the Interim are equivalent. by France. While he had published the book Paysages après le génocide Government to secure a ceasefire and (ed. Le Temps des cerises, 2007), we return to . He wants to convinced him of the value of repub- prevent a military victory of the RPF lishing his articles in a book. Unfor- and force him back to the negotiating State of the database tunately, Jean died on the 5th De- table. cember 2019 before the publication of the book whose title he chose Nuit It contains over 11,000 documents. et brouillard sur le Rwanda (Night Anti-aircraft threat at The index cards descriptions of the and fog over Rwanda). This one was documents are now available in abbre- in April 1994 edited by Izuba in January 2020. See viated. The search engine gives the http://www.izuba.info. full version. The Belgian C-130 which was to land in Kigali on April 6, 1994 was New items have been added to the equipped with “ecm” means (elec- top drop-down menu of web pages: tronic countermeasure) because the - a section “maps” including AA Artillery Belgian army had been warned of an the1/300,000 map of Rwanda, an in- “aa” (anti-aircraft) threat. Comman- teractive map of municipalities show- A note from the Belgian intelligence der De Troy sent a message on April ing the mayors and other officials in service of December 23, 1993 ob- 5, 1994 requesting special custody for 1994, the map of the 5 provinces and serves that two French soldiers listen this plane but, in his hearing on May 30 districts resulting from the 2006 re- to the telephone network. She re- 29, 1997, he did not want to confirm form. ports the movement of anti-aircraft that there was a particular threat in - a section “hate media” with Kan- artillery pieces to the the Kacyiru gen- Kigali. gura and transcriptions of RTLM and darmerie and the presidential guard On April 14, the last French plane Radio Rwanda. camp in Kimihurura. A DGSE file took off from Kanombe, activating dated April 7, 1994 (N° 18487/N) will its anti-missile decoys “ it during - a “multimedia” section with links indicate anti-aircraft gun fire at dawn the flight over Kanombe”, as affirms to videos or radio programs in replay. from the Kacyiru camp and aimed the the Kibat’diary dated September 20, The following comments are all re- RPF battalion at the CND. The at- 1995 and Renaud Girard in the Fi- lated to documents readable on this tack against the RPF was therefore garo Magazine on June 25, 1994. website. planned since a long time. This plane had just been threatened 2 by mortar fire that lieutenant-colonel ther folder more substantiated on the president’s death was the provocation Maurin wanted to blame on the Bel- preparation of the assassination of his needed to put a long-standing plan gians. father, the coup and massacres in or- into effect. He urged that the United During a meeting on May 18, 1994 der to prevent the entry into force of States encourage French and Belgium at the Belgian Military Prosecutor’s the agreements of Arusha Peace. intervention to stop the escalation of Office, it is mentioned that, accord- fighting and protect Rwandans. ing to the Pentagon, “Rwanda had 15 500 Belgian soldiers missiles”. This refers to the “Ex-FAR For the CIA, the attack Equipment Summary as of 6 April forbidden to land in 1994” sent by the United Nations’s and the massacres were Rwanda DPKO on September 1st, 1994. initiated by Hutu ex- On April 11, 1994, Madeleine Al- tremists De Grossouvre would bright, representative from the United have warned Mobutu States to the UN, confirms that 500 A CIA memo from April 28, 1994 Belgian paratroopers from the oper- says that “in our view politicians and ation Silver Back remained traped As part of his guilty plea, Jean Kam- military commanders from northen in : “Belgian PolOff [polit- banda was heard in 1997-1998 by in- Rwanda unleashed the fighting that ical affairs officer] informed USUN erupted on 6 April”. [...] “Eyewit- vestigator Pierre Duclos. On Septem- PolOff that 500 Belgian paratroopers ber 25, 1997, Kambanda said about ness accounts of the downing of Hab- are standing by in Nairobi to rein- yarimana’s aircraft and the system- the April 6, 1994 meeting in Dar-es- force the 400 Belgians at Kigali, if Salaam: “Mobutu would have been ad- atic murder of Tutsi and indepen- needed”. Only 400 Belgian soldiers vised by a senior in the Elysee, the im- dant Hutu politicians immediately af- have been authorized to land in Ki- minence of danger. There would be a terwards suggest that the President’s gali by the Rwandan interim gov- link between the suicide of an Elysée death was the first step in a hardline ernment (GOR). While this one was executive and these communications. Hutu coup attempt”. not yet formed, the representative of France, Mr. Mérimée, made himself Joseph Kavaruganda’s the GOR’s spokesperson to the repre- The RPF denounces sentative of Belgium at the UN, Mr. the genocide on April murder Noterdaeme, as the latter reports it in his telegram of April 8 in Brussels. 13, 1994 In a document of July 2, 1995, An- The French authorities, for their part, nonciata, Joseph Kavaruganda’s wife, have indicated that they have pleaded In the absence of International action describes the circumstances of the ar- with the GOR the cause of Belgium to save innocent Rwandan people, the rest and murder of the President of so that it can land troops. This Rwandese Patriotic Front’s represen- the Constitutional Court on April 7, April 8, Paris knew that the geno- tative, Claude Dusaïdi, declares in 1994 by the Captain Kabera Zédé- cide against the Tutsi was triggered, a letter to President of the Security cias of the presidential guard. She as evidenced by “l’ordre d’opération Council that a crime of genocide is be- believes that Article 7 of the Mem- Amaryllis” and thus made himself the ing committed against the Rwandese orandum of Understanding between spokesperson for the killers. people. He has the moral responsabil- the Government of Rwandan Repub- ity to protect Rwandese people from lic and the RPF on Miscellaneous barbaric and savage criminals. It is Issues and Final Provisions, signed Colonel Rusatira the intention of the RPF to neutralize in Arusha on August 3, 1993 and elements of the Rwandese army that which stipulated that in absence of the His role is ambiguous especially dur- are responsible for these massacres, president of the Republic, ministers ing the ETO massacre on April 11 and deputies took an oath before the 1994. But he contacted Joyce Leader, President of the Constitutional Court, deputy head of mission in Kigali who New Zealand hands was “ textita death sentence” for this retreated to the United States Em- over its archives one. In a letter of March 23, 1994 bassy in Nairobi. Aurelea Brazeal, to the President, Kavaruganda com- the ambassador, reported on April Former New Zealand Ambassador to plained of death threats. During his 12 that he accused the secret orga- the UN, Colin Keating, gave a copy hearing on October 16, 1995, Jean- nization “Amasasu” to have ordered of the archives concerning Rwanda Marcel Kavaruganda provided a fur- the atrocities at Kigali. He said the to the Ambassador at UN Valentine 3

Rugwabiza (The New Times, Septem- « Le Petit Kigali » on the existence of Tutsi survivors in ber 7, 2019 ). Bisesero. The scene was filmed by This movie, dated June 11, 1994, was CNN’s . The 29 shot by Vincent Munyakazi, owner of June evening, he also warned Com- “Petit Kigali”. This restaurant was mander Marin Gillier. The next day, A gift to the geno- the “headquartrt” of the when this officer did not take into ac- cidaires in Kigali. We see Ephrem Nkezabera, count this information, Sam Kiley and Chairman of the Committee on Eco- the reporter from Paris Match Michel nomic and Financial Affairs and the Invited to address the Security Coun- Peyrard introduced French soldiers to captain of the peacekeepers, Amadou cil meeting on 16 April 2014, Colin the Tutsi survivors in Bisesero. Deme, intelligence officer of the UN- Keating recalls that a number of AMIR, eminently dubious. In an countries mounted a major unilateral aside conversation between Nkezabera Cardinal Etchegaray military intervention in Rwanda to and Deme, it’s about travelers checks extract foreign nationals, but those death (Thomas Cook) that Nkezabera is try- forces then departed. They left the ing to recover with a view to purchas- Tutsi to their fate. in April 1994, he Disappeared in 2019, he mentioned ing weapons. With Michael Houri- was presiding over this Council, his briefly in J’ai senti battre le cœur du gan, Deme accused Paul Kagame of presidential declaration April 30 con- monde (I felt beat the heart of the shooting down Habyarimana’s plane demned the atrocities in Rwanda, but world) (2019) his trip to Rwanda at (March 8, 2007). the word genocide has been deleted the end of June 1994 organized by “at the insistence of some permanent Franciscan Vjeko Curic. He is re- members”. The draft declaration pre- Weapons bought in ceived in Butare by 3,000 warriors sented by Karel Kovanda, represen- “armed with machetes” to the cry of tative of the Czech Republic, April Seychelles thanks BNP “ textitVive Mitterrand”. He meets 28, 1994, urged the Rwandan Interim a priest “holding a gun in shoulder Government to put an end to the On September 26, 1997, Jean Kam- strap”. He dines in the evening with acts of genocide committed by groups banda declares before the ICTR in- the prefect and the minister Pauline under its authority. Colin Keating vestigator Pierre Duclos that the Nyiramasuhuko. On June 25, he will points to the responsibility of the UN weapons delivered in June 1994 were pray in Kibuye “in the large parish Secretariat, claiming that “the Coun- intended for “civil defense”, that is church where floats the smell of 3,000 cil was not aware of the systematic to say to genocide. It would be the victims who have just been slaugh- massacre civilians”. At the end of weapons purchased in Seychelles by tered”. June, the report of the Special Rap- Colonel Bagosora and paid through porteur to the Commission on Human the Bank BNP. On his diary, Kam- Rights has never been brought to the banda noted that he was in Gisenyi French engagements attention of the Council. He consid- on June 18 when the first delivery ar- ers that the decision to authorize Op- rived. In his notes taken at the Coun- According to Madeleine Albright, eration Turquoise was a mistake and cil of Ministers on June 17, Edouard Ambassador Mérimée declares to the that, in hindsight, it is clear that the Karemera writes that, “for the pro- Security Council on June 17, 1994 downsizing of UNAMIR was “a naive tection of economic infrastructure in that France is ready to fight Hutu gift to the genocidaires in Kigali”. the Crête area”, including the antenna militias in order to protect Tutsis. It and Electrogas at Mount Karongi and seems that the military French mis- the Gisovu tea factory, reservists are taked the RPF soldiers for Hutu mili- going to be recruited. He adds: “the tiamen ... Jérôme Bicamumpaka government will make weapons avail- at the Security Council able on order made as part of civil self-defense”. Rwanda story

The shameful speech of the Minis- On this site FGT one can find : Jour- ter of Foreign Affairs of Rwandan in- Sam Kiley Testimony nal of the discovery of the source of terim government of May 16, 1994 is the Nile, 1863 ; Charles Lavigerie, presented separately on FGT. David In a video testimony from June 2019, L’esclavage africain, 1888 ; Louis Hannay, representative of the United Sam Kiley, then a Times journal- Baunard, Le cardinal Lavigerie, 1896 Kingdom, had refused to meet (The ist, tells how he alerted on June 26, ; Richard Kandt, Caput Nili, 1904 ; Times, May 13, 1994). 1994 a French officer (Eric Bucquet) Rapport Lenaerts sur le territoire de 4

Nyanza, 1929; Paul Rutayisire, His- Special Representative of the Secre- archives, which had been until then toire du Rwanda, 2011. tary General for Burundi, said he refused. Article 15 of the Declaration had been warned of the attack on of the Rights of Man and of the Cit- Wednesday, April 6 at 9:30 p.m. (2:30 izen of 1789 is invoked in the state- Clara Lanzi Prize a.m. New York time). He claims ment. this was not directed against the Bu- On 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 Félicien Kabuga arrest did not accompany the President to Clara Lanzi prize. This foundation Dar-es-Salaam. Unlike his colleague in France was created to rescue factious gener- in Rwanda, he immediately organized als who attempted a putsch against a meeting with the President of Par- Arrested on May 16, 2020 near Paris, the Republic in Algiers in 1961 as liament, the Prime Minister and the Félicien Kabuga had been living since well as the imprisoned members of the Chief of Staff of the army to avoid a several years in France and had high- OAS, this terrorist organization cre- political vacuum. ranking protections there. It will ated by General Salan. With General be remembered that Michel Auril- Tauzin and Colonel Hogard, General lac, former Minister of Cooperation Lafourcade shares this ideology of the “Damned Soul” (1986-1988), died in 2017, was lawyer defense of “l’Occident chrétien” (the of Kabuga’s family. On November West Christian”, a crusade that was In his book “Protéger le Président” 12, 1999, French police officers act- illustrated in the horrors committed (2019), Denis Roux, member of the ing with a arrest warrant from the by General Franco during the civil war Security Group of the Presidency International Criminal Tribunal for in Spain and by Hitler in Operation of the Republic, sent to train the Rwanda arrived at the home of Au- Barbarossa against the USSR and the Rwandan presidential guard (1991- gustin Ngirabatware, Kabuga’s son- “Judeo-Bolsheviks commissars”. 1993), “has not the feeling of hav- in-law and former Minister of the In- ing trained genocidaires”. Before the terim Government. But this one con- Bantou Myth visit by Habyarimana at the Élysée veniently flew away. (July 17, 1992), François Mitterrand As chairman of the RTLM radio of the danger repre- Jean-Pierre Chrétien sheds light on warns him : “ initiative committee, Félicien Kabuga sented by Agathe, the wife or rather this myth which is one of the founda- wrote or received letters regarding the ’damned soul’ of the Rwandan tions of the ideology of the genocide purchases of material for this radio, president, known to be in favor of a against the Tutsi in “Les Bantous, including a transmitter for Mount radical solution against the Tutsis from German philology to African au- ”. Karisimbi. thenticity: A racial myth contempo- rary” (1985). Mehdi Ba makes a syn- Lumière et société thesis in “Do the Bantus exist?”(Je- African Prussians une Afrique, April 18 2016). In “ tex- These notebooks published by titExchanges and Hierarchies in the Bernard Muzungu present the reflec- Gérard Araud was diplomatic advi- Realms of Great Lakes of East Africa” tions of Rwandan intellectuals after sor to the cabinet of François Léotard, (1974), Chrétien shows how a feudal the genocide. We will read in partic- Defense minister from 1993 to 1995. pattern from European history was ular “The race problem in Rwanda” In his book “Passeport diplomatique” forged by the colonizers on the soci- (March 31, 2009). (2019), he claims that Edouard Bal- eties of the Great Lakes region. ladur and François Léotard wanted to Access Mitterrand withdraw the French troops “ textit- Ould-Abdallah the most quickly possible”. He assures archives that Operation Turquoise had nothing 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”.