Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

France accused of African genocide role

|
|
 
  
Published: March. 16, 2004 at 1:37 PM

KIGALI, Rwanda, March 16 (UPI) -- Rwandan President Paul Kagame turned the table on French investigators Tuesday, claiming the French government itself was responsible for a 1994 massacre.

Kagame was responding to an allegation Monday in the Paris daily Le Monde that he gave direct orders for the rocket attack on then-President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane. Several French citizens were among those killed when it crashed, and their deaths are under investigation by France's leading anti-terrorist judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, the BBC reported.

The ensuing political chaos spawned the massacre of some 800,000 people.

At the time, Kagame was head of the mainly-Tutsi rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front.

Le Monde said the accusation against Kagame is contained in a 220-page report drawn up by police, but Kagame denies it, insisting "French elements" were behind the aircraft downing, as well as arming and training rebels.

"Sooner or later they will have to account for their actions, either before a French court or the international court," Kagame said.

Topics: Paul Kagame
© 2004 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 21
Singer Janelle Monae arrives at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California
View Caption
Singer Janelle Monae arrives for the MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. UPI/Jim Ruymen
fark
Daughter: hey, look what my pet bird can dance to. Parents: he's going to hell
"Slave master" husband, who severly beat wife over DS/SM marriage pact, quits as local charity director....
Amsterdam drops ban on drinking beer standing up. Drinking beer upside down still punishable offense...
Photoshop Theme: Mashup products from different centuries. Link goes to real product example
Okay, you've got to admit wildfires are pretty cool when you're looking at them from space
Barnes and Noble tell a 73-year-old patron that men can't be by themselves in the children's area,...