Hundreds of genocide survivors gather at the Nyamata genocide memorial site in eastern Rwanda.
Genocide survivors on Thursday demanded the UN to open official probe into France’s role in the 1994 genocide against Tutsis.
The survivors through their grouping IBUKA have set four issues the UN must require France to comply with as part of the wider investigation. IBUKA’s positions were communicated in a statement following a petition filed with the UN by the Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda (CPCR) based in France.
The French campaigners on Wednesday submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council its concerns that France has failed to comply with its international legal obligations in respect to the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.
In January 2018, France will present its third Universal Periodic Review (UPR) cycle. IBUKA said in its statement that it wants France’s compliance to be assessed at the January meeting.
“We call upon the UN Human Rights Council and all UN member states to acknowledge the role of French officials in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi and take appropriate steps in accordance with national and international legal frameworks,” said IBUKA head Dr Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu.
“In addition, we call upon France to either extradite to Rwanda or prosecute all the alleged genocidaires to whom it continues to provide a safe haven.”
There are dozens of Rwandans in France that stand accused of role in the genocide. The government of Rwanda has asked the French government to allow Rwandan prosecutors interview more than two dozen French officials, a request that has been ignored.
Last week, French media were flooded with graphic details of how French military officers and politicians aided the killing machine, supplying millions of dollars in arms. More than a million Tutsis perished in a spate of 104 days.
France’s biggest bank BNP Paribas allegedly facilitated transfer of some 80 tons of arms to the genocidal government.
