Kigali — Freelance journalist and researcher Andrew Wallis has accused the French government on several counts of aiding the 1994 Rwanda Genocide.

Appearing before the Mucyo Commission that is charged with evaluating France's role in the Genocide, Wallis said France's hand remains undoubtedly significant in the preparation and subsequent execution of the 100-day crisis, in which a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

Like the fallen dictatorial regime of Mobutu Sese Seko of former Zaire and now the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said, the French supported the Rwanda leadership under Juvenal Habyarimana with a major motive of pushing through their exploitative policies.

"On several occasions, France trafficked arms into Rwanda prior [to] and during the genocide," he alleges, arguing the conduct as illegal and in contradiction to the Arusha Peace Accord and the European Union arms embargo.

He said that, although France was aware the deals were illegal at the time, the country was aiming at arming and strengthening the Habyarimana regime, which was a strong ally of the Paris establishment and a vehicle of the French policies.

Wallis, a researcher with the Department of Peace Studies at Bradford University and the author of Silent Accomplice: The Untold Story of the Role of France in the Rwandan Genocide, also explained that the flow of arms continued uninterrupted towards and throughout the period of turmoil in the pretext that both countries were fulfilling numerous military treaties, cooperation agreements and security pacts signed previously.

Referring to interviews he conducted with different personalities in France's Defense ministry during his nine years of research, he revealed that Operation Turquoise was integrated in the Habyarimana government's traditional chain of command.

He observed that there was no way the 'limping and disgruntled' interim government of Habyarimana would have gained momentum to put up massacres like those that occurred in 1994 without the support of French network and arms among other military hardware.

"The interim government was very weak but the French secret services and mercenaries in Rwanda helped in various ways for instance in the servicing of the extremist government's radio network, while at the same time tapping the RPF communication and this was against Arusha (Peace Accord)," Wallis told the seven-man commission presided over by Jean de Dieu Mucyo.

He said, however, that the concealed assistance-dating as far back as 1990-became more open in May 1994, when government-owned military helicopters were seen flying "whites," in this case French soldiers, into defensive positions to "crush" resisting Tutsis in areas like Bigogwe, Kaduha and Nyamata.

French mercenaries

Wallis alleges that the same French mercenaries were also involved in training and arming the Interahamwe, and later conducted 'operation insecticide,' which targeted Tutsis in refugee camps in eastern Congo.

Deliberate mission

Wallis alleges that: "Generally France does not care about what happened in Rwanda during the genocide because to them it was a question of politics and fighting the alleged pro-US force (RPF/A) other than humanity."

Wallis illustrated that the battle between president Paul Kagame and the French government is symptomatic of Paris's deep-seated desire to hold on to "La Francafrique", and of an African president's determination to break free from the structures of francophone ties.

"Habyarimana was a key personal and political ally of the late French president François Mitterrand, in a relationship built on mutual ambition and interest," he said.

He explained that it became clear within hours of the RPF invasion in October 1990 that the extremist government would be backed by French troops, who the time, were sent into Rwanda to keep the RPF at bay in one of sixteen non-UN mandated military interventions by Paris in Africa between 1960 and 1994.

"Officially France sent more than $25 million worth of arms to Rwanda between 1990 and 1993, as well as providing army trainers to motivate and advise Habyarimana's army. Witnesses have recently testified that the French were also involved assisting with the newly formed youth militia, which were later to carry out the Genocide," Wallis said.