Saturday, November 25, 2006

French ambassador leaves Rwanda after ties cut

...Bruguiere is probing the April 6, 1994, shooting down over Kigali of a plane carrying Rwanda's then-president Juvenal Habyarimana, along with Burundi's former leader Cyprien Ntaryamira, both ethnic Hutus, and a French crew.

Habyarimana's death set off the 100-day genocide in which Hutu extremists slaughtered some 800,000 people, mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

On Monday, Bruguiere said Kagame, a Tutsi and then a rebel leader who has denied any involvement in the attack on the plane, should be tried by the UN war crimes tribunal for Rwanda for ordering the downing of the plane.

As a head of state, Kagame enjoys immunity in France, but on Wednesday, the judge issued the warrants for the nine, accusing them of murder and conspiracy.

Kagame was livid, calling the claims "rubbish," accusing France of "bullying" behavior and repeating allegations that France was complicit in the genocide by backing the radical Hutus blamed for most of the killings...


Is French Justice Corrupt? Just askin'. Personally, I suspect that the French judicial system is closely tied to the government and does what it is told, especially when foreign policy is involved. Now if the Rwandans would tar and feather the French diplomats and run 'em out on a rail, I would be content. Breaking relations and giving them till Tuesday to get out of Dodge is perhaps the next best thing.

Rest here.

1 comment:

truepeers said...

Yes, French justice can be corrupted by assumptions of French national interests, as it clearly was in the Mohammed al-Durah fauxtograph (faux video) affair, when the judge found for the clearly guilty - fraudulent - party in a defamation suit, apparently because he was a protected person, a member of the media and elite class, against his Jewish, pro-Zionist accuser. Read all about it at Richard Landes' blog, Augean Stables Or dig up the podcast interview os Landes at Shire Network News.