Ms Melvern sums up: "The assassination of Juvenal Habyarimana led to the elimination of the pro-democracy opposition in Rwanda. The mass killing was one of the fastest and most "efficient" pre-planned genocides of the twentieth century. The genocide, carried out just 12 years ago, is still terribly fresh in the memories of survivors. The issue of who is responsible for downing the Mystere Falcon is not some dusty, historical problem. Some observers believe that whatever crimes Paul Kagame may or may not have committed, the French establishment has never really forgiven him for challenging its influence in Africa. When he won the war, the outcome, highly unusually, led to a change in Rwanda's official second language from French to English. His officers were almost all men - and a few women - who had been exiled and educated in neighbouring, English-speaking Uganda. While the genocide of ethnic Tutsis and other government opponents was being carried out by the extremist Hutu regime, the then-Tutsi rebel Paul Kagame mounted a conventional war against the French-backed government. Thousands protested in Kigali this week against France I met Paul Kagame many times when he was a rebel commander, and have interviewed him since he became president. Several of the key players, including two former heads of state, have their names mis-spelt.Īnyone who has followed Rwanda in recent years, and seen the extraordinary lengths to which people are prepared to use violence, to gain and hold on to power, will accept that almost anything is possible. Ms Melvern said the evidence the French judge had presented alleging President Kagame's involvement in the murder of his predecessor was very sparse, and that some of it, concerning the alleged anti-aircraft missiles used to down the presidential jet, had already been rejected by a French Parliamentary enquiry.Ī brief look at the Judge's 64 page report, as made available on the websites of some French newspapers, also reveals that the report appears to have been written in something of a rush. "At the time of the planning of the genocide the French government had 47 senior officers embedded into the Rwandan army, which subsequently played such a large role in the genocide, and the best informed government of (them) all of what was going on in Rwanda was the French," she says The ethnic Hutu president, his aides and his French air crew were all killed. When the Rwandan president's Mystere Falcon executive jet was blown out of the skies over Kigali airport at about 2000 local time on 6 April 1994, it was the beginning of a bloody nightmare for Rwanda. Judge Bruguiere mounted the inquiry in France because the families of the French aircrew, also killed when the plane went down, laid a judicial complaint. Mr Kagame, now Rwanda's president, was furious and broke off diplomatic relations with France. The act served as a catalyst for the genocide of some 800,000 (others say as high as one million) people in just 100 days.Ī French investigative judge, Jean Louis Bruguiere, has accused the ethnic Tutsi rebel leader at the time, Paul Kagame, of having been responsible. The question of who shot down the plane carrying the former president of Rwanda in April 1994 could turn out to be one of the great mysteries of the late 20th Century. See the Box Office tab (Domestic) and International tab (International and Worldwide) for more Cumulative Box Office Records.Īction Thriller, Set in Northern Ireland, Set in Boston, Terrorism, Irish Republican Army, Death of a Girlfriend / Boyfriend, Death of a Sibling, Prison Break, Retirement, Redemption, Revenge, False Identity, Erotic ThrillerPresident Kagame has always accused France over the genocide All Time Domestic Box Office (Rank 2,901-3,000)Īll Time Worldwide Box Office (Rank 4,101-4,200)Īll Time Domestic Box Office for R Movies (Rank 901-1,000)Īll Time Worldwide Box Office for R Movies (Rank 1,201-1,300)
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