As Rwanda commemorates 30 years since the genocide of 1994, President Paul Kagame has spoken candidly about how the West, particularly France and the United Nations failed to stop the massacre and failed to help.
On Sunday, Kagame led commemorations, remembering those who had died during, and those who had been affected by, the Hutu’s 100-day bloody campaign against the Tutsis and Twa that began on 7 April 1994. After more than three months of attacks, the death toll stood at more than 800,000 people.
France had close ties with the Hutu-led government and provided military training and support to the Rwandan Armed Forces in the run-up to the genocide. Despite evidence of the impending genocide emerging, France continued to support the RAF, sending troops to the small African country as part of the UN-mandated mission Operation Turquoise. France has been accused of supporting the Hutu government by allowing perpetrators of the massacre to flee to neighbouring countries.
The United Nations Security Council, despite receiving multiple warnings about the potential for mass violence in Rwanda, didn’t take decisive or swift action to stop the genocide. And although there was a UN mission in Rwanda at the time – the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda, it was understaffed, under-resourced and unable to respond effectively to the escalating violence once the genocide had started.
The UN also called the violence “acts of genocide” in an attempt to avoid legal and political obligations to step in. There was a general lack of political will amongst UN member states to intervene, with concerns about risking the lives of peacekeepers. During Paul Kagame’s speech at the Kigali Genocide Memorial on Sunday, he spoke about how the Genocide of 1994 affected him personally. He shared the story about how one of is relatives was killed by militias, after her colleagues at the UN betrayed her.
According to the Rwandan president, a man named Callixte Mbarushimana worked for the UN in Rwanda at the time of the genocide. It’s alleged that during this time, he participated in the murder of 32 people, some of whom were his colleagues – one of them was Kagame’s cousin Florence Ngirumpatse. In a heart-wrenching account of how her murder unfolded, Kagame spoke about how she had been trapped in her house with others, but despite desperate calls made to Kagame, help never came.
Florence and her family were tortured for a month and she finally succumbed to her injuries on 16 May 1994, together with her family. Only one person managed to escape, her niece. The president still feels aggrieved by the UN’s inability to stop the massacre. And on a more personal note, he recalled how a top UN commander failed to help his family in their time of need even though he said he would try.
Amongst some of the international dignitaries who attended the Kwibuka 30 event in Rwanda over the weekend was former French president Nicolas Sarkozy. French President Emmanuel Macron could not attend, but last week he did speak about France’s failings in 1994, saying his country did not have the will to stop the genocide, even though France was the leader of “Operation Turquoise” at the time.
In 2021 Macron officially apologised for France’s role in the Rwandan genocide during a visit to Kigali in May 2021. He acknowledged France’s “overwhelming responsibilities” in
the genocide and expressed regret for not preventing the mass killing of Tutsis in 1994. His apology marked a significant step towards reconciliation between France and Rwanda.
ALSO READ: Remembering the 1994 Rwandan genocide | Thirty years on
