WESTERN PROVINCE

KARONGI - A group of French nationals currently touring the country have strongly criticized the government of former President Francois Mitterand for aiding an extremist government as it killed its own people.

The group called Intore za Dieulefit said that officials of their government and influential military officers lied to the French nation about the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda.

Mitterand was French president during the Genocide and his government is accused of supporting and training militias and government troops who killed over a million people.

The delegation which is in Rwanda to revitalize the relationship between the two countries also admitted that the French were largely responsible for spreading the hate ideology that culminated into Genocide.

Speaking to The New Times shortly after paying tribute to victims at Bisesero memorial site in the Western Province, Dr. Anne Marie Truc, head of the delegation, also accused the West for doing nothing to prevent the Genocide despite early warnings.

"We are seeking to renew and strengthen our relationship although our former leaders did not do enough to support you during the dark times of 1994,” a sobbing Truc said yesterday.

Margaret Carbonare, wife to the late Jean Carbonare, a renowned human rights activist, was also part of the delegation.

She was furious that her husband’s warnings against arming the Interahamwe militias before and during the Genocide were taken lightly.

Carbonare is on record having publicly declared in 1993 that genocide was being prepared in Rwanda but his government did not respond to the alarm.

"Even when my husband reported the matter, our President ignored it and not even the French press gave it the deserved attention. Rwandans should also know that it’s our bad leadership that turned its back against them,” Mrs. Carbonare said in an interview.

As a sign of reconciliation, the group has so far donated over 60 cows to survivors who were abandoned by French troops in the infamous Operation Turquoise. 

Dr. Ezechias Rwabuhihi, MP-designate and former Minister of Health, welcomed the move and expressed optimism that the initiative will expedite the restoration of a stable relationship between the two countries.

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