An estimated 800,000 people, mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were slaughtered by Hutu extremists during a 100-day killing spree between April and July 1994, and Rwanda's government accuses France of playing a role French troops in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide trained Rwandan soldiers and militia responsible for most of the killings and joked with them, a government inquiry commission heard on Wednesday. On the second day of public hearings in a probe into France's alleged complicity in the genocide, a former employee of the French cultural center in Kigali said his boss had boasted about the training France had provided. "My boss told me that their army had trained the young men so well that they could defend the country from any attack by Tutsi rebels or their accomplices," said Venuste Kaijamahe, who worked at the center for more than 20 years.
An estimated 800,000 people, mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were slaughtered by Hutu extremists during a 100-day killing spree between April and July 1994, and Rwanda's government accuses France of playing a role. Paris has adamantly denied the allegation but Kigali has charged the commission with determining whether there is evidence to file a suit against France for damages at the world court. The seven-member panel of historians, legal experts and a senior military officer in the former Rwandan army has been working since April to investigate claims of French involvement.
Kaijamahe, a Tutsi, said French diplomats held frequent sessions to plot strategy against Tutsi rebels, who began fighting the then Hutu-led government in 1990 from bases in neighboring Uganda. "Regular meetings to draw up strategies for the war were held at residences of the French ambassador and other senior embassy officials," he said. "French soldiers also often bragged about the success of joint operations with the Rwandan army and the skills of their local counterparts," said Kaijamahe, the fourth of 25 witnesses to testify before the panel.
"It wasn't rare to see French troops jogging alongside Interahamwe (extremist Hutu) militias on the streets of Kigali neighborhoods," he said, adding: "It's sad to see France denying any knowledge of things that took place in broad daylight. "At the time they didn't hide their activities that much. Maybe they are now ashamed.
" Kaijamahe also accused his former bosses at the cultural center of refusing to evacuate him at the peak of the genocide on the grounds that he was not a French national, "even though they had space to airlift extremists from the former government." Witnesses testified on Monday that France allegedly supported the former government and its Interahamwe militia out of fear it was losing influence in Africa to rebels backed by an English-speaking country, Uganda. "They thought a francophone country was being attacked by an anglophone country" and believed "they had to rush to the rescue," Jacques Bihozagara, a former Rwandan ambassador to France said.
The public hearings are to continue until next week and the inquiry commission is expected to report its findings back to the current Tutsi-led government within six months. Although France denies the allegations, a French former soldier last year alleged that French troops had trained Rwandan militia responsible for the killings in the two years leading up to the genocide. Also, a French military tribunal is currently investigating claims by six Rwandan Tutsis who filed a complaint accusing French troops of being complicit "in genocide and/or crimes against humanity.
" These witnesses come from the mountainous western region of Bisesero, where survivors claim French forces lured Tutsis from hideouts in the hills to village centers where they were killed.
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