French 'complicit' in genocide
2005-12-24 16:32
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Paris - The prosecutor of a French military court has opened an inquest for "complicity in genocide", following accusations against French troops stationed in Rwanda in 1994.
Six Rwandans, from the Tutsi minority, filed the complaint against "an unidentified person or group of persons".
The complaint charges French soldiers as complicit in the "genocide and/or crimes against humanity" which took place in the central African country in 1994.
The genocide claimed 800 000 lives - mostly Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
The complainants claim French troops allowed Rwandan government forces and Hutu extremists to enter those refuge camps under French protection.
They say minority Tutsis were kidnapped from these camps.
In November, French investigating magistrate Brigitte Raynaud travelled to Kigali to hear the Rwandan plaintiffs.
The inquiry is focussing on the cases of two escapees of the genocide, aged 14 and 27 at the time.
The French troops stationed in the country in 1994 were part of "Operation Turquoise".
The operation was under a United Nations mandate to create a secure humanitarian area in southwestern Rwanda.
The Paris military tribunal is the only court with jurisdiction to try French soldiers alleged to have committed crimes abroad.
- AFP