French official defends France's role in Rwanda

May 5, 1998
Web posted at: 1:08 p.m. EDT (1708 GMT)

PARIS (CNN) -- French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, on Tuesday defended French policy during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, saying Paris had tried to prevent the bloodshed.

Vedrine, who was President Francois Mitterrand's chief of staff during that period, spoke before a parliamentary panel holding the first inquiry into French international policy in three decades.

The inquiry was prompted by media reports suggesting that France had continued to arm and support Rwanda's French-speaking, Hutu-led government even after the genocide of a half million Tutsis and moderate Hutus began in April 1994.

Vedrine also told the panel that he "had no information" on the debate over who supplied and used the rockets that downed the plane of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana.

The April 6, 1994 crash, which killed the president and preceded the genocide, has been blamed either on Tutsi rebels or Hutus opposed to a previous peace accord that called on Hutus and Tutsis to share power.

Vedrine argued that France exerted pressure for a truce.

Hundreds of thousands were killed in the 1994 genocide

"France was the only country to be in contact with everyone," Vedrine said. "That's why the contacts were maintained even after the massacres. That's why it's wrong to talk about support."

"We were working toward a cease-fire and seeking a U.N. mandate," Vedrine said, referring to the French-led Operation Turquoise which was launched in June 1994 to halt the fighting and facilitate aid shipments to hundreds of thousands of refugees.

France has been accused of mounting the operation to protect its old Hutu friends and to protect many involved in the massacres.

Why the probe? A special National Assembly committee is probing allegations that French forces in Rwanda propped up the Hutu-led government, slowed the advance of rebel Tutsi forces seeking to end the 1994 massacre of moderate Tutsis and Hutus and helped genocide organizers flee Rwanda for safe havens in other countries. The panel also wants to determine who shot down the plane carrying Rwandan Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994 -- the incident that triggered the killings.

Vedrine argued France's policy of seeking a cease-fire, then mounting Operation Turquoise despite a lack of international support, was to maintain stability in French-speaking Africa, where Paris has numerous mutual defense treaties.

"Most major nations don't like Africa and don't believe it has a future," he said. "France had an Africa policy unlike others."

"The entire world knew that there was a terrible risk of new massacres hanging over Rwanda," which had already been the scene of ethnic clashes between the two peoples, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• U.S. denies supplying missiles that killed African leaders - April 7, 1998
• Rwanda plumbs unanswered questions of 1994 genocide - April 7, 1998

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

• Rwanda - On-Line
• United Nations
  • United Nations Human Rights
• Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1997 - U.S. Department of State
  • 1997 Human Rights Report: Rwanda
• Rwanda Page - African Studies at University of Pennsylvania

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

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