海角大神

France鈥檚 role before and during the 1994 Rwandan genocide was a 鈥渕onumental failure鈥� that the country must acknowledge, the lead author of a report commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron said, as the country is about to open its archives from this period to the public.

The report, published in March, concluded that French authorities ignored the preparations for genocide as they supported the 鈥渞acist鈥� and 鈥渧iolent鈥� government of then-Rwandan President Juv茅nal Habyarimana 鈥� and then reacted too slowly in appreciating the extent of the killings. But it cleared them of complicity in the slaughter that left over 800,000 people dead, mainly ethnic Tutsis and the Hutus who tried to protect them.

Mr. Macron鈥檚 decision to commission the report 鈥� and open the archives to the public 鈥� are part of his efforts to more fully confront the French role in the genocide and to improve relations with Rwanda, including making April 7, the day the massacre began, a day of commemoration. While long overdue, the moves may finally help the two countries reconcile.

Historian Vincent Duclert, who led the commission that studied France鈥檚 actions in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994, told The Associated Press that 鈥渇or 30 years, the debate on Rwanda was full of lies, violence, manipulations, threats of trials. That was a suffocating atmosphere.鈥�

Mr. Duclert said it was important to acknowledge France鈥檚 role for what it was: a 鈥渕onumental failure.鈥�

鈥淣ow we must speak the truth,鈥� he added. 鈥淎nd that truth will allow, we hope, [France] to get a dialogue and a reconciliation with Rwanda and Africa.鈥�

Mr. Macron said in a statement that the report marks 鈥渁 major step forward鈥� toward understanding France鈥檚 actions in Rwanda.

About 8,000 archive documents that the commission examined for two years, including some that were previously classified, will be made accessible to the general public starting Wednesday, the 27th anniversary of the start of the killings.

Mr. Duclert said documents 鈥� mostly from the French presidency and the prime minister鈥檚 office 鈥� show how then-President Francois Mitterrand and the small group of diplomats and military officials surrounding him shared colonialist views, including the desire to maintain influence on a French-speaking country, that led them to keep supporting Mr. Habyarimana despite warning signs, including through delivery of weapons and military training in the years prior to the genocide.

鈥淚nstead of ultimately supporting the democratization and peace in Rwanda, the French authorities in Rwanda supported the ethnicization, the radicalization of [Mr. Habyarimana鈥檚] government,鈥� Mr. Duclert stressed.

France was 鈥渘ot complicit in the criminal act of genocide,鈥� he said, but 鈥渋ts action contributed to strengthening [the genocide鈥檚] mechanisms.鈥�

鈥淎nd that鈥檚 an enormous intellectual responsibility,鈥� he said.

The report also criticized France鈥檚 鈥減assive policy鈥� in April and May 1994, at the height of the genocide.

That was a 鈥渢errible lost opportunity,鈥� Mr. Duclert noted. 鈥淚n 1994, there was a possibility to stop the genocide ... and it did not happen. France and the world bear a considerable guilt.鈥�

Eventually they did step in. Operation Turquoise, a French-led military intervention backed by the United Nations, started on June 22.

Mr. Duclert said that France鈥檚 鈥渂lindness must be questioned and, maybe, brought to trial,鈥� though he insisted it was not the commission鈥檚 role to suggest charges.

The report was welcomed as an important step by activists who had long hoped France would officially acknowledge its responsibilities in the genocide. On a visit to Rwanda in 2010, then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy admitted that his country had made 鈥渆rrors of judgment鈥� and 鈥減olitical errors鈥� regarding the genocide 鈥� but the report may allow Mr. Macron to go further.

Dafroza Gauthier, a Rwandan who lost more than 80 members of her family in the mass killing, welcomed it as a 鈥渁 great document against genocide denial.鈥�

鈥淔or 27 years, or longer, we were in a kind of fog,鈥� said Ms. Gauthier, who with her husband, Alain, founded the Collective of Civil Plaintiffs for Rwanda, a French-based group that seeks the prosecution of alleged perpetrators of the genocide. 鈥淭he report is clearly stating things.鈥�

There also may be a shift in the attitude of Rwandan authorities, who welcomed the report in a brief statement but have given no detailed response. They said the conclusions of their own report, to be released soon, 鈥渨ill complement and enrich鈥� it.

That鈥檚 different from Rwanda鈥檚 firm assertions of French complicity as recently as 2017. Relations between the two countries, strained for years since the genocide, have improved under Mr. Macron鈥檚 presidency.

F茅licien Kabuga, a Rwandan long wanted for his alleged role in supplying machetes to the killers, was arrested outside Paris last May.

And in July an appeals court in Paris upheld a decision to end a years-long investigation into the plane crash that killed Mr. Habyarimana and set off the genocide. That probe aggravated Rwanda鈥檚 government because it targeted several people close to President Paul Kagame for their alleged role 鈥� charges they denied.

It now appears Rwandan authorities will accept 鈥渢he olive branch鈥� from Paris, said Dismas Nkunda, head of the watchdog group Atrocities Watch Africa, who covered the genocide as a journalist.

鈥淢aybe they鈥檙e saying, 鈥楾he past is the past. Let鈥檚 move on,鈥欌�� he said of Rwandan authorities.

The Gauthiers said the report and access to the archives may also help activists in their efforts to bring people involved in the genocide to justice 鈥� including potentially French officials who served at the time.

There have been three Rwandan nationals convicted of genocide so far in France, they stressed. Four others are expected to go on trial. That鈥檚 out of about 30 complaints against Rwandan nationals living in France that their group has filed with authorities.

That鈥檚 still 鈥渧ery few鈥� compared to the more than 100 alleged perpetrators who are believed to live in French territory, they said.

This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP journalists Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris and Rodney Muhumuza in Kampala, Uganda, contributed to this report.