France is making amends for the number of years when it was not active in holding accountable those who committed the genocide against the Tutsi, by stepping up efforts to bring them to justice, the country’s envoy has said.
Antoine Anfré, France’s Ambassador to Rwanda made the observation as the French Embassy held a commemoration event to pay tribute to the 17 employees of the French Embassy that were killed during the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994.
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Anfré said that such a commemoration event has been taking place since 2010 when one of his predecessors decided to put an inscription with the names of 17 staff members of the Embassy of France to Rwanda who were assassinated during the Genocide.
Talking about justice and addressing impunity, he said that political will was needed to prosecute Genocide fugitives, pointing out that those who committed the atrocious acts must pay for what they did as they are crimes against humanity.
"And in a way, the ceremony [to remember the Genocide victims] the Embassy is organising is one element of this fight against impunity,” he said.
Dispensing justice, ‘compensating for lost time’
On bringing Genocide fugitives to book, Anfré said that France, "during too many years, didn’t do what was necessary”.
"For close to 20 years, we did almost nothing, so now we have to speed up the process and sometimes you know time is lost in a way,” he said.
However, he mentioned that the country tried two burgomasters [Octavien Ngenzi, and Tito Barahira], who committed acts of Genocide and were sentenced to prison in 2014.
"Since the visit of (France’s) President Macron here (in Rwanda in 2021), the process has been accelerated. So, roughly, twice a year, there is a big trial of a presumed genocidaire residing in France,” he said.
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"Very soon, there will be the trial of Philippe Hategekimana in Paris in May and June. So, 50 witnesses from Rwanda will travel there and will deliver their message (testimonies) to the court,” Anfré observed, adding "and hopefully, justice will be done.”
Hategekimana was a former deputy commander of Gendarmerie (police) in the current Nyanza District, Southern Province of Rwanda.
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"It will be the same also, at the end of the year, for a certain (medical) doctor Sosthène Munyemana who is also accused of genocide crimes and currently resides in France,” Anfré added.
Izere Zayana, a Genocide survivor, said that her father, called Abdulkharim Twagirayezu, was among the personnel of the France Embassy to Rwanda who were killed during the Genocide.
She commended France on its endeavours to hold genocide culprits accountable.
"It means that they took into account what happened in Rwanda. It is something commendable and important that France has done, and we are happy with this. If there are other suspects living there, they must be prosecuted and this will be good news for us as Rwandans, because those people committed a serious crime,” she said.