“The message from Rwanda’s foreign minister today is a key step in bringing our two countries closer together,” a French presidential adviser told the press on Monday in response to the Rwanda report.
Since the genocide, critics of France’s role have said that then-President Francois Mitterrand could not prevent the massacres or even support the Hutu-led government that orchestrated the killings.
“The French government has an important responsibility in allowing a predictable genocide,” the Rwandan government wrote in its report posted on its main website. The report was drafted by Robert F. Muse and the Washington, DC law firm Levy Firestone Muse LLP, which was hired by Rwanda to investigate France’s role in connection with the genocide.
Rwanda’s report comes after a similar report from the French commission published in March that said France had been blinded by its colonial attitude towards Africa in the face of pre-genocide events and therefore had a “serious and overwhelming” responsibility.
The commission cleared France of complicity in the genocide.
“Ultimately, this report cannot be the last word on the role of the French government in Rwanda. This word will come after the French government makes all its documents public and allows all its officials to speak freely,” he said. ‘report.
Earlier this month, France said it would open Rwanda’s archives of former French President Francois Mitterrand as part of an effort to better understand the nation’s role in the African country during the genocide.