France declassifies Rwanda massacre documents
France has declassified documents relating to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which it is accused of having an indirect role, a government source says.
A decision to declassify documents concerning Rwanda and the genocide, which claimed at least 800,000 lives, was made on Tuesday, said a source in President Francois Hollande's office.
According to the source, the papers include documents from diplomatic and military advisers of then-President Francois Mitterrand, and will be viewable by researchers and historians.
"The president had announced a year ago that France must provide proof of transparency and facilitate remembrance of this period," said the source.
Paris has so far rejected all claims concerning its training of the militias that took part in the massacres.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused France of complicity in the genocide over its support for the Hutu nationalist government, which carried out the mass killing of an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 Rwandans, mainly from the Tutsi ethnic group.
Last year, Kagame said that France had not "done enough to save lives" and had not only been complicit but "an actor" in the Tutsis' massacres.
He also referred to “the direct role of Belgium and France in the political preparation of the genocide, and the participation of the latter in its actual execution.”
The Rwandan genocide began following the shooting down of a plane carrying former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6, 1994. Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira was also killed in the plane crash. They were both ethnic Hutus.
After the crash, Hutus who were in majority, were incited to commit acts of ethnic violence against Tutsis.
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