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Rwanda names French officers accused of genocide

Xinhua, October 31, 2016 Adjust font size:

Rwanda has released a list of 22 senior French military soldiers it accuses of aiding the planning and execution of the 1994 genocide that claimed about 1 million lives in the central African country.

A statement containing details of the alleged French army officers was released on Monday by the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide (CNLG), in the wake of the reopening of investigations by France into the shooting down of a plane carrying the then president Juvenal Habyarimana, an event widely seen as sparking the genocide.

The release of names is likely to further strain the already tense relations between Rwanda and France, according to analysts.

In a detailed report issued Monday, CNLG alleges that the named senior French officers were operating in Rwanda at the time of the genocide and reportedly had a direct hand in the killings.

Jean Damascene Bizimana, executive secretary of CNLG, said the commission released the dossier following a persistent dissimulation of French responsibility in the genocide.

"The analysis of the report facts demonstrates that senior French officers and politicians committed very serious crimes in Rwanda. The refusal to end the judicial investigation and pronounce a dismissal against Rwandan leaders who ended the genocide is an attempt of concealing their responsibilities," he said in a statement released to reporters.

Earlier this month, Rwandan President Paul Kagame warned that revisiting the case of the plane crash would lead to diplomatic standoff between the Rwanda and France and that it would be a "showdown".

France's role in the 1994 genocide has for years been the subject of intense scrutiny and much controversy, with both Paris and Kigali trying to pin responsibility of the genocide on each other.

Between 2006 and 2009, bilateral relations were completely broken off after a French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere claimed that top Rwandan officials were involved in the downing of the Habyarimana's plane.

While Rwanda has repeatedly accused France of backing the genocidal regime government and arming and training the perpetrators responsible for the mass murder, France has denied the accusations and insisted its forces had worked to protect the civilians. Endit