A report by historians says France bears overwhelming responsibilities over the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and was “blind” to preparations for the massacres.
The historical commission set up by President Emmanuel Macron said there had been a “failure” on the part of France under former leader Francois Mitterrand over the genocide.
The report on Friday added that genocide saw around 800,000 people slaughtered, mainly from the ethnic Tutsi minority but added there was no evidence Paris was complicit in the killings.
The genocide between April and July of 1994 began after Rwanda’s Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana, was killed when his plane was shot down over Kigali on April 6.
Historian Vincent Duclert, who heads the commission, said France did not do enough to halt the massacres and was even complicit in the crimes.
Macron, who ordered the creation of the commission in May 2019, welcomed the report as marking “considerable progress” in understanding France’s role in Rwanda from 1990 to 1994.
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