“The message from the Rwandan Foreign Minister today is an important step in bringing our two countries closer,” a French presidential adviser told reporters on Monday in response to the Rwandan report.
Since the genocide, critics of France’s role have said that then-President Francois Mitterrand could not prevent the massacres, or even support the Hutu-led government that orchestrated the killings.
“The French government bears significant responsibility for enabling a foreseeable genocide,” the Rwandan government wrote in a report published on its main website. The report was compiled by Robert F. Muse and the law firm Levy Firestone Muse LLP in Washington, DC, which was appointed by Rwanda to investigate the role of France in the genocide.
Rwanda’s report comes on the heels of a similar report by the French commission issued in March, which says that France was blinded by its colonial attitude towards Africa for events that led to the genocide and consequently a serious and bears overwhelming responsibility.
The commission scrapped France from complicity in the genocide.
“Ultimately, this report cannot be the last word on the role of the French government in Rwanda. That word will come after the French government has released all its documents and enabled all its officials to speak freely,” the report.
Earlier this month, France said it would open the Rwanda archives of former French President Francois Mitterrand as part of an effort to better understand the country’s role in the African country during the genocide.