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French Judeo-Black association Rwanda revisionism concerns

Updated: 03/Jan/2006 15:07

Paul Kagame, Rwanda President

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Jewish and Black intellectuals in France are standing up to a new revisionist wave that is denying the Rwanda genocide.

The French Judeo-Black association is to launch a petition following the publication of a controversial book by journalist Pierre Pean in which he denies the existence of a genocide against the Tutsi section of the Rwandan population in the 1990s.

In the book, entitled Black Furies, White Liars, Pean not only claims the Tutsis were not the victims of a genocide but also accuses them of attacking the rival Hutus. Pean says that Rwandan president Paul Kagame was responsible for the death of his predecessor Juvenal Habyarimana and the journalist considers that this attack caused the whole Rwandan tragedy.

Several historians have accused Pean of revisionism and the Judeo-Black association has acquired the services historian Joel Kotek, from the ULB university in Brussels, Tutsi professor Assumpta Mugiraneza who heads the Rwanda Support Association and the spokesman of the new Black umbrella organisation CRAN to give their point of view.

It was genocide

“There were four genocides in the 20th century,” Kotek said, “the genocides against the Jews, the Armenians, the Tutsis and the Hereros, at the beginning of the century.”

“The genocide in Rwanda could have been avoided,” added Pr Kotek. “The first stages of it were clearly identifiable.”

“The genocide perpetrated against the Tutsis is not a matter of opinion,” said Tutsi historian Assumpta Mugiraneza. “Genocide corresponds to a clear definition. It is carefully organised in several stages. A hate campaign is launched against the victims, whom are targeted only because of their identity, their birth.

“The government organises first massacres and eliminates those who resist. In Rwanda the Prime minister was assassinated after the first massacres. Then the government organises the extermination itself and tries to rationalise it to the people.”

800,000 killed

The UN has estimated that over 800,000 people died in the Rwanda genocide in 1994. Most of them were Tutsis but Hutus who were opposed to the massacres were also killed.

Assumpta Mugiraneza added that interethnic violence between Tutsis and Hutus erupted in 1959.

In his book, Pean denigrates several historians and journalists who wrote about the Rwanda genocide. On two occasions he ruled out historians because, “They are married to Rwandan women” or “are attracted to Rwandan women”.

The controversy erupted as a French court is beginning to investigate the conduct of French soldiers deployed in Rwanda during the genocide.

Some 2,500 French soldiers were deployed in South western Rwanda from June to August 1994 during operation Turquoise. Their goal was to enforce a secure humanitarian zone for the genocide victims.
Six Tutsi survivors have accused French soldiers of letting Hutus militiamen kidnap and murder Tutsi refugees that were under French protection.

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