Louise Mushikiwabo, Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Wednesday, January 11, 2012, that she is expecting the French justice to stop proceedings against the individuals close to President Paul Kagame charged in connection with the French investigation on the death of former President Habyarimana in April 1994 - considered one of the events that triggered the Rwandan genocide.
The conclusions of the expert report presented by French judges Marc Trevidic and Nathalie Poux have questioned the testimony of the witnesses of the investigation carried out by Judge Bruguiere. These witnesses claimed that the missiles that destroyed the plane of President Habyarimana were fired from Masaka Hill by members of the Tutsi rebel group of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) who were able to infiltrate it.
Based on that evidence, the French judge then issued in 2006, arrest warrants against nine Rwandese nationals close to the president, all suspected of having taken part in the attack against the plane of President Habyarimana.
The report of the French ballistic experts has now cast doubt on these accusations because it confirms the hypothesis that the missiles were fired, not from Masaka hill, but from Kanombe, a Rwandan armed forces military camp of- the army of the Hutu regime at the time. Thus, the missiles were not fired from a Tutsi position. This is precisely what Kigali has always claimed. Rwanda immediately expressed satisfaction affirming that the findings of the report gave "justice to the position held by Rwanda for a long time."
Rwanda government is satisfied with the new direction taken by the French investigation
According to the Government, the report findings "do justice" to the position taken by Rwanda.
Lawyers of those close to the Rwandan president have called for a stop of proceedings in this investigation and are also considering filing a complaint. "A considerable number of cases breaches of the law, especially fraud, were recorded during the period when the investigation was led by Judge Bruguière," Experts speak of perjury, violations of confidentiality and witness tampering.
A Disappointed opposition
Two opposition parties in exile - the National Congress of Rwanda (CNR) and the United Democratic Forces (UDF) are calling for an international investigation. They do not question the geographical origin of the missile firing, but question the responsibility of the Hutu extremists and believe that Judge Trévédic does not completely exonerate the regime of Paul Kagame. Moreover, the opposition does not rule out the possibility of an infiltration by the former Tutsi rebels in the camp Kanombe.a charge that Leon-Lef Forster, one of the lawyers of the accused RPF, terms "Impossible".
Philippe Meilhac Habyarimana’s widow’s lawyer wants to be more cautious about drawing conclusions regarding the perpetrators of the attack. Philippe Meilhac claims that the Rwandan army never received Soviet missile training such as that used in the attack. The lawyer thus concludes that the report exonerating the RPF camp is a shortcut.
Two opposing theories
There are two clashing views concerning the perpetrators of the 1994 attack. On one hand; those who think that Hutu extremists killed their own and the other, those who saw the hand of the Tutsi armed movement, Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
On the other hand a view was taken that the involvement of the Tutsi rebels in the event led to the assignation of the president.
The Tutsi rebels of the RPF were among the first to be accused; a view taken over by the French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, the first French magistrate in charge of the investigation in 1998. Eight years later, in 2006, nine warrants were issued for the arrest of officials close to President Kagame, who in 1994 had led the RPF, - the Tutsi rebellion.
The end of the genocide in July 1994 saw the rise of the RPF to power. The issuance of arrest warrants by Judge Bruguière in 2006 led to the severance of diplomatic ties between France and Rwanda given that the relationship was already strained on account of the recurrent suspicion of French support of the genocide perpetrators.