Why survivors will not tire asking France to declassify archives on 1994 Genocide

French media outlet, Liberation recently published an open letter by Annick Kayitesi-Jozan, a Genocide survivor living in France, to French president Emmanuel Macron calling for the declassification of documents on Rwanda, particularly about the french role in the genocide that are archived in the president’s office. In the letter, Kayitesi whose mother was killed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi reminds Macron of how himself and his predecessors usually make strong statements at the commemoration of the Oradour-sur-Glane massacres but never acknowledge France’s role in the Genocide against the Tutsi. Survivors of the Genocide are unrelenting in their pursuit for justice and truth. Ibuka president Jean-Pierre Dusingizemungu told Sunday Times that the reason why Elysee’s archives are not being declassified is obvious. “There are facts, truth, that leaders in France do not want made public,” he said. Ibuka is the umbrella association of genocide survivors in Rwanda. “This truth is in connection with the blood of the Tutsi which was spilled by people supported by the French establishment. The truth torments them. It will always haunt them.” Opening up would allow the Élysée Palace to be free of guilt and move towards having a clean conscience by healing the historical wound they inflicted on themselves, Dusingizemungu suggested, adding that persistence in asking for the declassification of the archives will be the order of the day. Persistence is a way of continuously pestering Paris until they give in, he said. France, which maintained close ties with the genocidal regime in Rwanda, is accused of blocking justice with regard to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Apart from refusing to reveal its dark secrets, the European country continues to host and protect several prominent members of the former Rwandan regime who are wanted back home on genocide charges. The Collectif des Parties Civiles pours le Rwanda (CPCR), a rights group that has over the years worked tirelessly to see Genocide suspects living in France brought to book has petitioned newly-sworn in President Emmanuel Macron to not permit mass murderers roam freely in the country, to no avail. Alain Gauthier, the CPCR president, has in the past also written two related open letters to the French presidency but got no response. Gauthier said: “The open letters may perhaps be of little use, but they show that citizens cannot be satisfied with the current situation. However, I would like to have clear answers to the questions I have asked.” Among others, Gauthier asked whether the French leader approved of his country’s courts’ continuously snubbing efforts to have genocide suspects in France extradited to Rwanda where they committed Genocide. The executive secretary of National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), Dr. Jean-Damascène Bizimana, firmly believes such open letters, and or petitions, are one crucial tool in the pursuit for justice in the case involving France and its past actions. “It is not a waste of time. In French politics what citizens request for is often given attention and such efforts are important, especially when made public as was done through the media,” Bizimana said. “This ought to be continued. It helps and there is a case in point; in 1998, even though nothing much was achieved, a French Parliamentary Commission was set up to investigate the role of the French government in the events surrounding the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. This Parliamentary Commission, he said, came about because of pressure from the media and even though French lawmakers did not really go far, significant information was revealed, such as how their military supported the genocidal regime. In her open letter, Kayitesi pointed to the fact that while commemorating the Oradour-sur-Glane massacres, earlier, Macron particularly urged countrymen not to forget what happened on June 1944 when a French village was destroyed, along with its 642 inhabitants, for there is a risk of history repeating itself. On June 10, 1944, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne in Nazi-occupied France was destroyed, when 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were shot or burnt alive by Nazi troops. To this day, Oradour-sur-Glane is a fully preserved ruined village that was the site of the worst Nazi massacre of civilians carried out on French soil. In her open letter to Macron, Kayitesi writes that 23 years after the Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwandan survivors request that the “hope” and “ethics” - usually mentioned by French leaders - could allow the declassification of the Elysee’s archives to prove wrong “those who deny the humanity of our people”, but in vain. “But the archives remain closed. A part of historical truth buried. For how much longer?” she posed.

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Why survivors will not tire asking France to declassify archives on 1994 Genocide