Former French PM Edouard Balladur rejects Duclert report on France’s role in the Genocide against Tutsi
In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24 and RFI, former French prime minister Edouard Balladur strongly rejected the recent findings of a historical commission investigating France’s role in the 1994 genocide against Tutsi, according to which Paris bears “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” in the chain of events that led to the slaughter of ethnic Tutsis.
Balladur, who served as prime minister between 1993 and 1995, said it was unfair to criticise France when the United Nations and other countries failed to intervene to prevent the massacres.
“I did my utmost to ensure that France would not be blamed for being passive and indifferent,” Balladur said, adding that he was “full of admiration” for what French peacekeepers did.
Balladur Government in 1994
Rwanda’s Commission for the fight against the Genocide revealed that April 2, 1993 After François Léotard, France’s defense minister announced that the RPF army “is progressing towards Kigali with troops disguised in civilian clothes. “,Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, supported by President François Mitterrand, decides to strengthen the French military system in Rwanda as well as military cooperation.
On April 3, 1993 -Juvénal Habyarimanareceives in his residence Ambassador Georges Martres, Defense Attaché Colonel Bernard Cussac, Advisor to the FAR Chief of Staff Colonel Jean Jacques Maurin and Michel Robardey to thank them
for France’s help in countering the RPF’s attack of February 8, 1993 when the RPF troops carried out a defeatful offensive to Habyarimana’s army until Shyorongi in the gateways of Kigali.
CNLG in a report said also During the genocide, the French Government hosted senior leaders of Hutu
Power. “France is the only country that continued to collaborate with the criminal government even though they knew the government was carrying out genocide. On April 27, 1994, 3 weeks after the beginning of genocide, two representatives of the criminal government i.e Jerome Bicamumpaka and Jean Bosco Barayagwiza were hosted in Paris, Champs Élysées and Matignon whereas America and Belgium had refused to give them visa. They held talks with French officials, including the Prime Minister Edouard Balladur, Foreign affairs Minister, Alain Juppe and Bruno Delaye, who headed the Office in charge of Africa at the Office of the President.” reads part of the report
