Radio France and the news site Mediapart published on Wednesday excerpts of a memo from the DGSE \u2013 the French equivalent of MI6 and the CIA \u2013 which seems to refute the idea that they knew nothing of the Rwandan genocide as it began to unfold.ADVERTISING<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two news organisations published a note from the\u00a0French\u00a0exterior intelligence agency in September 1994 saying that two \u201cHutu extremists\u201d were the main sponsors of an\u00a0attack\u00a0that triggered the\u00a0genocide\u00a0that year in the eastern African country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They note that this memo was \u201cdeclassified by the French defence minister in September 2015\u201d at the request of judicial authorities in Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis French intelligence document understands that two extremists \u2013 Colonel Th\u00e9oniste Bagosora, an aide to the defence minister; and Laurent Serubuga, a former chief of staff of the Rwandan armed forces \u2013 were the main instigators of an April 1994 attack,\u201d says the joint Radio France and Mediapart report. \u201cDid the French secret services really know nothing?\u201d it continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This attack on the plane carrying the Rwandan President Juv\u00e9nal Habyarimana, a Hutu, is widely considered to be the event that triggered the genocide that killed 800,000 people, according to the UN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colonel Bagosora was one of the main perpetrators of the genocide, and has been sentenced to a long prison term by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Rwandan authorities have long suspected him of genocide, Serubuga \u201cmoved to France in the \u201990s\u201d, according to Radio France and Mediapart. In 2014, French judicial authorities rejected Rwanda\u2019s request to extradite him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bagosora and Serubuga\u2019s retirement in 1992, \u201cat the instigation of President Habyarimana, was a significant source of resentment, considering that both colonels hoped to rise to the rank of general\u201d, the French media outlets\u2019 report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe attack on Habyarimana\u2019s plane must have been premeditated for a long time by Hutu extremists,\u201d the article continued. \u201cThe assassination of several Tutsis and moderate opposition leaders less than half an hour after the presidential plane was blown up confirms that a lot of preparation went into this attack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Source: France24<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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