Genocide claims 'intolerable'

2008-08-07 14:04

Paris - French Defence Minister Herve Morin on Thursday rejected as "intolerable" allegations by Rwanda that the French military played an active role in the 1994 genocide, saying French forces did "nothing wrong".

"I still remember what the military did to save hundreds and thousands of human lives in abominable conditions," Morin told French radio RFI.

Morin worked at the time under the then Defence Minister Francois Leotard, one of 13 politicians and 20 military officials named in a Rwandan report released on Tuesday as responsible for the genocide.

He visited Rwanda shortly after the deployment of the French army's Operation Turquoise, a humanitarian mission deployed towards the end of the killings, from June to August 1994.

"These accusations are absolutely intolerable for the memory of the French soldiers who took part in this operation," he said.

Morin said a French parliamentary investigation on Rwanda had "clearly shown that the "French military had done nothing wrong".

A 500-page Rwandan report released on Tuesday in the Rwandan capital alleged that France was aware of preparations for the genocide, and that the French military in Rwanda helped to plan and carry out killings.

Kigali has said it hopes French officials will be indicted for war crimes on the basis of the report, which Paris has officially denounced as "unacceptable".

Paris has acknowledged making "mistakes" in Rwanda but denies any responsibility for the genocide.

- AFP