French Army’s Role In Rwandan Genocide Dismissed Again

Kigali,  Rwanda – The investigating judges responsible for probing allegations of inaction by the French army during the Bisesero massacres in Rwanda in 1994 have issued a new order of general dismissal, confirming a decision to abandon prosecutions, which was initially made in 2022.

In this high-profile case, associations including Survie, Ibuka, FIDH, and six survivors of the Bisesero massacre accused the French military-humanitarian mission Turquoise and France of “complicity in genocide.” They alleged that French forces knowingly abandoned Tutsi civilians who sought refuge in the hills of Bisesero, allowing hundreds of them to be massacred by genocidal forces between June 27 and 30, 1994.

According to an order issued on Tuesday and reported by AFP on Wednesday, two investigating magistrates from the Paris judicial court’s crimes against humanity unit have concluded that the prosecution of the five soldiers targeted in the procedure, who were never indicted, was unwarranted.

The judges stated, “During the events of Bisesero, the French military forces deployed in Rwanda did not become complicit by abstention in the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against Tutsi civilians.”

This decision has reignited historical controversies over the objectives of the French mission in Rwanda, which was deployed under a UN mandate to halt the genocide of the Tutsi. Civil parties have long demanded not only a trial against military personnel but also against individuals in the entourage of former President François Mitterrand, who was in power during the genocide and was never targeted by the investigation.

In September 2022, the two magistrates had previously issued a dismissal order, citing a lack of evidence of direct participation by French military forces in the atrocities or their complicity through aid or assistance to genocidal forces. Civil parties appealed this decision, asserting procedural errors and an insufficient consideration of the Duclert Commission’s report published in April 2021, which highlighted France’s “profound failure” during the Rwandan massacres.

The Paris Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the civil parties on procedural grounds in June 2023, returning the case to the investigating magistrates. The civil parties had hoped that further investigations would be carried out, including the testimony of historian Vincent Duclert.

However, the judges have now rejected these requests, emphasizing that most of the documents cited in the Duclert report were already present in the case files. This decision marks the conclusion of years of investigations, with no criminal responsibility of the French army or its soldiers established.

Lawyers for the accused individuals, including Jacques Rosier and General Jean-Claude Lafourcade, have decried the persistence of certain plaintiff associations, describing their actions as an attempt to exploit the victims of the genocide in an unrealistic quest to prove French military responsibility.

Meanwhile, representatives of the plaintiff associations expressed disappointment in the judges’ refusal to draw conclusions from the Duclert report, which highlighted institutional failures surrounding President François Mitterrand.

The Rwandan genocide, which occurred between April and July 1994, claimed more than 800,000 lives, primarily among the Tutsi minority, according to the United Nations.