Thursday, November 13, 2008

Great quotes...

"... Western countries would never allow their officials to be detained on the order of an African judge. We live in a world where some people are more equal than others. I think this is true when it comes to Africa and the developed world ..."

- Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, after Kagame's chief of protocol, Rose Kabuye, was arrested on Sunday in Germany on an international warrant issued by a French judge for her alleged role in the Rwandan genocide.

Des mandats d'arrêt contre des Français / Arrest warrants issued against French

Le parquet général rwandais s'apprête à émettre des mandats d'arrêt contre des responsables civils ou militaires français mis en cause dans un rapport rwandais sur le rôle présumé de la France dans le génocide de 1994 au Rwanda, a-t-on appris, mardi 11 novembre, de source judiciaire rwandaise.

The Rwandan general prosecutor is preparing to issue arrest warrants against French civil and military persons blamed in a Rwandan report for the supposed role of France in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, it has been learned from Rwandan judicial sources, Tuesday, November the 11th.

La justice rwandaise est en train de mettre la dernière main aux actes d'accusation contre 23 des 33 responsables civils ou militaires français mis en cause dans le rapport rendu public le 5 août, a déclaré mardi à l'AFP sous couvert d'anonymat une source au parquet général du Rwanda. "Les actes d'accusation sont en train d'être finalisés, les mandats d'arrêt peuvent être lancés à tout moment dès maintenant", a ajouté cette source.

Rwandan justice is in the final stages of putting together charges against 23 of the 33 French civil and military persons blamed in a report made public on August 5, announced AFP, quoting an anonymous source in the prosecutor's office, "The charges are being finalized , arrest warrants could be issued any moment," added the source.

Dans ce rapport, Kigali avait accusé la France d'avoir "participé à la mise en exécution" du génocide perpétré dans ce pays en 1994, et réclamé que 13 hauts responsables politiques et 20 militaires français soient poursuivis. Le génocide au Rwanda a fait, selon l'ONU, environ 800.000 morts au sein de la minorité tutsie et des Hutus modérés.

In this report, Kigali accused France of "having participated in the planning" of the genocide that was perpetrated in this country in 1994, and claimed that 13 political high ranking officials and 20 French soldiers would be pursed. The Rwandan genocide resulted in approximately eight hundred thousand deaths among the Tutsi minority along with Hutu moderates, according to the United Nations

La France a reconnu des "erreurs" dans sa politique rwandaise, mais a toujours récusé les accusations lui faisant porter une responsabilité dans les massacres. Cette annonce survient alors que des manifestations se déroulent depuis lundi à Kigali pour protester contre l'arrestation dimanche en Allemagne de la directrice du protocole d'Etat rwandais, Rose Kabuye, en vertu d'un mandat d'arrêt émis par la France.

France has recognized making "errors" in its Rwandan policy, but has always challenged the charges of having had any responsibility in the massacres. This announcement occurred during demonstrations which have have been taking place since Monday win Kigali to protest against the Sunday arrest in Germany of the director of the protocol Rwandan state, Rose Kabuye, pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by France."


It's true that the French have never been fully called to account for the role they played in Rwanda.
.. This blogger doesn't believe that the French were actively complicit or had a direct role in the genocide, but it is unassailable that a number of the measures that they took delayed some of the international intervention, while a number of things they didn't do allowed the Hutu massacres to continue... (e.g. see Operation Turquoise)

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