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BBC---Rwandan survivors suing France for complicity in genocide

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Zuni Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-17-05 01:32 PM
Original message
BBC---Rwandan survivors suing France for complicity in genocide
The suit was filed against unnamed defendants by lawyers of the six, who survived the 1994 massacres.

Some 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus, died during the Rwandan genocide.

According to the plaintiffs - five men and one woman - French troops allowed Rwandan troops and Hutu extremists to enter camps where Tutsis had sought refuge.

UN-mandated French troops had been deployed to south-western Rwanda to create safe havens for minority Tutsis.

"From our point of view, these facts can be seen as complicity genocide as there was an actual participation by French troops in operations against a specific ethnic group," said lawyer Antoine Comte.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4272437.stm
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Barrett808 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-17-05 01:35 PM
Response to Original message
1. They should sue the Catholic church as well
Plenty of Catholic priests were enthusiastic supporters of Hutu Power.
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Zuni Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-17-05 01:37 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. France did ship arms to the Hutus during the massacres
Edited on Thu Feb-17-05 01:38 PM by Zuni
and the French intervention was called 'humanitarian', but instead of stopping the Hutu Interhamwe, they seemed to be more concerned with fighting the RPF.

Yes, priests were involved. There was one priest who hid in the US after having all of the Tutsis in his congreagtion murdered---it is in the book "we wish to inform you...'
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Barrett808 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-17-05 03:14 PM
Response to Reply #2
9. Yes, I read that in the excellent Gourevitch book as well
But now that Negroponte's the "Intel Czar" we can expect some horror right here at home.
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Zuni Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-17-05 03:16 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. He'll be shipping arms to some freeper militia
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mudderfudder77 Donating Member (188 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-17-05 01:37 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. I don't remember
Catholic Priests being mandated by the UN to protect the tutsis...
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Komrade _azul Donating Member (108 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-17-05 01:46 PM
Response to Original message
4. French troops at fault?
Didn't the Hutus actually do the killing? So why don't they sue them, wait, the Hutus don't have any money and won't listen to you.
Sue anyone who has money and then complain next time that no one will help you.
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gottaB Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-17-05 02:10 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. Help?
The troops are not being tried for the inadequacy of their defence. What they are charged with is even worse than totally failing to help people in danger (which iirc French law regards as criminal). They are accused of helping the perpetrators of a crime against humanity. That's exactly the kind of help future generations of Rwandans don't need.
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Zuni Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-17-05 02:58 PM
Response to Reply #4
8. That is not why they are suing
The French Government went out of it's way to help the Hutu Power before, during and after the 1994 genocide.
What they did was far sleazier than even Clinton working to undermine the UN Peacekeeping operation and pretending he had no idea what was going on
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Flagg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-17-05 02:49 PM
Response to Original message
6. Doesn't mmake much sense.
Why would the Francois Mitterand's government order its troops to take part in a genocide ?


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Zuni Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-17-05 02:55 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. They were allied with the Hutu Power Regime
Edited on Thu Feb-17-05 03:00 PM by Zuni
and feared Rwanda being taken over by the Anglophone RPF
They didn't order the French troops to take part---they intervened, allegedly to stabilize the country, but in the end spent most of the time fighting against the RPF and protecting the Interhamwe that were responsible for the massacres
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plasticsundance Donating Member (786 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-17-05 03:26 PM
Response to Original message
11. Frontline PBS flashcard of timeline of Rwanda genocide of 1994
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