BBC---Rwandan survivors suing France for complicity in genocide

[Zuni]

The suit was filed against unnamed defendants by lawyers of the six, who survived the 1994 massacres.

Some 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus, died during the Rwandan genocide.

According to the plaintiffs - five men and one woman - French troops allowed Rwandan troops and Hutu extremists to enter camps where Tutsis had sought refuge.

UN-mandated French troops had been deployed to south-western Rwanda to create safe havens for minority Tutsis.

"From our point of view, these facts can be seen as complicity genocide as there was an actual participation by French troops in operations against a specific ethnic group," said lawyer Antoine Comte.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4272437.stm

[Barrett808]

1. They should sue the Catholic church as well

Plenty of Catholic priests were enthusiastic supporters of Hutu Power.

[Zuni]

2. France did ship arms to the Hutus during the massacres

and the French intervention was called 'humanitarian', but instead of stopping the Hutu Interhamwe, they seemed to be more concerned with fighting the RPF.

Yes, priests were involved. There was one priest who hid in the US after having all of the Tutsis in his congreagtion murdered---it is in the book "we wish to inform you...'

[Barrett808]

9. Yes, I read that in the excellent Gourevitch book as well

But now that Negroponte's the "Intel Czar" we can expect some horror right here at home.

[Zuni]

10. He'll be shipping arms to some freeper militia

[mudderfudder77]

3. I don't remember

Catholic Priests being mandated by the UN to protect the tutsis...

[Komrade _azul]

4. French troops at fault?

Didn't the Hutus actually do the killing? So why don't they sue them, wait, the Hutus don't have any money and won't listen to you.
Sue anyone who has money and then complain next time that no one will help you.

[gottaB]

5. Help?

The troops are not being tried for the inadequacy of their defence. What they are charged with is even worse than totally failing to help people in danger (which iirc French law regards as criminal). They are accused of helping the perpetrators of a crime against humanity. That's exactly the kind of help future generations of Rwandans don't need.

[Zuni]

8. That is not why they are suing

The French Government went out of it's way to help the Hutu Power before, during and after the 1994 genocide.
What they did was far sleazier than even Clinton working to undermine the UN Peacekeeping operation and pretending he had no idea what was going on

[Flagg]

6. Doesn't mmake much sense.

Why would the Francois Mitterand's government order its troops to take part in a genocide ?

[Zuni]

7. They were allied with the Hutu Power Regime

and feared Rwanda being taken over by the Anglophone RPF
They didn't order the French troops to take part---they intervened, allegedly to stabilize the country, but in the end spent most of the time fighting against the RPF and protecting the Interhamwe that were responsible for the massacres

[plasticsundance]

11. Frontline PBS flashcard of timeline of Rwanda genocide of 1994

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/etc/cron.html

Other information at the Homepage:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/