FRANCE'S COLONIAL SINS IN AFRICA: IS FRANCE REALLY NOT AN ACCOMPLICE TO THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE?

2021-06-30 9

To understand who the true culprits of the #Rwanda n #genocide were, it is necessary to go back to the "Scramble for #Africa" and briefly touch upon the history of the colonization of Africa by the seven Western European powers, namely #France , #Belgium , #Germany , #Italy , #Portugal , #Spain , and the #UnitedKingdom . Roughly speaking, the " #ScrambleforAfrica " refers to the infamous invasion by the West #European #colonists between 1884 and 1914 of Africa and the dividing of the continent into different zones under the so-called names of protectorates, colonies, and free-trade areas.
The reason for continued violence between #Hutu and #Tutsi... is connected with the failure of #Rwandannationalism to transcend the colonial construction of #Hutu and #Tutsi as native and alien." In fact, it is generally accepted view that during their colonial rule, #Belgians favored the minority #Tutsis over the #Hutu and this intentional favoritism exacerbated the tendency of the minority group to oppress the majority creating a legacy of tension that exploded into violence even before Rwanda gained its independence.
France did not have a direct role as a colonial administration in Rwanda. However, since France has historically played a leading role in the colonization of Africa, she tried to be the dominant actor in the region in every sense in the 1990s. In the framework of this over ambitious agenda, France became involved in Rwanda in October 1990 under the guise of working towards the democratization of Rwanda in accordance with the guidelines drawn by the then President of France François Mitterrand at the Franco-African summit in La Baule (June 1990).
French President Emanuel Macron on 5 April 2019, by sending a letter to Prof. Vincent Duclert, a historian and Inspector General of French National Education, asked the establishment of a commission under his presidency to examine all the French archives concerning Rwanda, covering the years 1990-1994.