Submitted by Character-Rabbit-127 t3_102irhz in history
arandomcanadian91 t1_j2vzrj5 wrote
It took them this long to finger France for this?
I know this 20 years ago when I was a kid, I had family in the CAF who had friends under the command of the UN Peace keeping force which was Canadian led. This mission is one of the reasons why Canada was still respected after what happened in Somalia, because our commander disobeyed direct orders and stood his ground with avaible resources to save as many as possible.
The French? Stood by idly while people were being butchered, General Dallaire asked the French for help and they stood by and watched the events happen.
Also the UN has a lot of blame in this, they held back resources that could have stopped the genocide within 12 hours. General Dallaire asked for battalion of Marines because he knew Canada didn't have forces in the region that could be immediately transferred to Rwanda within 24 hours. He was told there was no one available because of the Balkans which was complete horse crap since the US basically had units in the ME doing security in Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi army at that point was well armed enough to fend off a crippled Iraq.
Also the French knew about the coup that was occurring which kicked off the Genocide, which means the UN/NATO knew about it as well, and before you guys go "Oh they wouldn't have known" the US literally has eyes in every government in the world that has access to high level intel, look at the Canadian ambassador to Iran during the revolution, he was a CIA operative, one of the highest level ones too. This means that the UN and NATO are complicit the only ones that aren't were the boots on the ground trying to stop it.
E: This means by this report that France is now also directly responsible for the First Congo war since it kicked off due to Rwanda invading to find and destroy the Génocidaires
E2:
Sorry I get highly emotional about this, I had friends who survived through this genocide and came to the US when I lived there, they were kids who lost family in the most horrific ways you could think of. I also know folks who were on the mission as engineers and the stuff they saw was unrepeatable by me.
Nihilokrat t1_j2wl28k wrote
Yeah, the book Daillaire wrote about the genocide is pretty horrifying on all levels. It is an accelerating descent into madness and the reader can feel the helplessness plaguing him and the ones on the ground. Had to put down the book several times.
JegElskerGud t1_j2wyvb6 wrote
Wouldnt the Rwandans be directly responsible? The French may have stood around and done nothing to stop it but ultimately the people doing the killing are the most responsible.
Narf-a-licious t1_j2xhrin wrote
The French held significant influence within the old Rwandan (Hutu nationalist) Government who went on to commit Genocide. At any point in the month long massacre that killed nearly a million people they could have put their foot down in order to, at the very least, tamp down some of the killing. Going beyond inaction, there have been an abundance of accusations that France actively participated by shuttling Hutu nationalist to cities, villages, or dwellings where Tutsi (or moderate Hutu) citizens were hiding and subsequently murdered. As the Genocide began to slow down and the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front, the rebel army who fought the Hutu Nationalist government both before and after the Genocide) began to gain control, the French helped to evacuate many of the genocidaire's (mostly of upper government position) out of Rwanda and into the DRC or abroad. The French were some of the first on the ground in the DRC to provide aid and create refuge encampments for the fleeing Hutu Nationalist who were now on the run after having murdered their neighbors. The French media blasted on about the dangerous RPF and the poor Hutu who were fleeing an unprovoked army who wanted them dead for no reason; don't mind the million dead Tutsi and Hutu brothers and sisters those Hutu Nationalist left behind them. And the reason for it all, essentially, is because French policy was to side with whoever spoke French. That's it. Seriously. They just didn't care about what was happening and they desperately wanted to keep French speaking leadership in control.
Check out the Wiki on Rwanda and do some source clicks, it has plenty of places to start on this topic, but really you need to find books and media written about the subject, of which several good ones have been mentioned in these comments.
EDIT: further to add, the French being found "complicit" is not the same as the French being found responsible (what you wrote). They helped further the cause of genocide in ways that go beyond simple inaction (inaction being the flavor of diplomacy the rest of the world adopted). The Hutu nationalist are the ones ultimately responsible and no one denies that, but while the rest of the world turned a blind eye the French were doing deals with the devil under the table.
JegElskerGud t1_j2yxigg wrote
I was responding to OP who used the phrase "directly responsible for".
arandomcanadian91 t1_j2zlsqu wrote
The French due to allowing the coup plotters and genociders to meet in the embassy with the military attache means they are directly an actor of the genocide therefore responsible. Much like the Belgians were directly responsible for the Congo Crisis because they ordered the murder of the Prime Minister of the Congo which directly lead to the crisis.
Mtothe3rd t1_j2xdmz3 wrote
They did the killing with weapons and training provided by the French.
JegElskerGud t1_j2yx6sb wrote
So is America directly responsible for the Taliban, Al Qaeda and 9/11?
arandomcanadian91 t1_j2zkam1 wrote
America didn't train the Taliban, that was the ISI. AQ had backing from many people in the Arab world, and their tactics weren't taught by them AQ hooked up with multiple other terror networks to actually build their doctrine, AQ was associated with the Chechens who had used AQ's tactics aside from flying planes into buildings against Russia during the 90's.
Pakistan though supported both AQ and the Taliban, the TTP (Pakistani taliban) was only founded in 2007 as a result of the US, and Pakistan cracking down on AQ in Pakistan.
arandomcanadian91 t1_j2zl9ax wrote
>Also the French knew about the coup that was occurring which kicked off the Genocide
I think you need to reread my entire comment, and then go do some reading.
The RPF (The current leaders of Rwanda) tried to prevent this from happening by fighting back against the government for years. The genocide was just the peak of the entire civil war.
fvb955cd t1_j39htz8 wrote
They are, but you're discounting the tactical implications of a modern, western army force stationed in the enemy capital, and allied to that enemy. The RPF was superior to the Rwandan army, but it wasn't superior to the French army. The french had the effect of making Kigali like an impenetrable castle that the RPF had to work around until the military situation was so favorable towards the RPF, and international condemnation of the Rwandan government so strong that France could no politically act as a major force multiplier, except to evacuate the perpetrators of the genocide.
aqueezy t1_j2xddm2 wrote
Not when the French are expressly financing millions for the weapons used
If I give a suicide bomb to a jihadi Im not exactly blameless for what happens next
Moon_Man_00 t1_j2xyqeg wrote
> If I give a suicide bomb to a jihadi Im not exactly blameless for what happens next
That’s a bad comparison. A suicide bomb is designed specifically to kill innocents, whereas basic weapons and training are not.
inmyelement t1_j2w64q2 wrote
Didn’t Kofi Annan admit that he regretted the UN’s inaction with regards to the genocide? Definitely remember reading that somewhere. In any case, too little, too late! Regret, my foot.
arandomcanadian91 t1_j2zm5g9 wrote
Yep the UN actually has come out on multiple occasions and used Rwanda as a reason for more funding. But countries are reluctant to fund peacekeeping anymore. Back in the 60's Canada was one of the biggest contributors, giving entire regiments to the peacekeeping forces. But even we have drawn down from what we used to be.
I think peacekeeping is a cause worth funding 100%, just like ending hunger which we could do easily.
eaglessoar t1_j2x4bsk wrote
> look at the Canadian ambassador to Iran during the revolution, he was a CIA operative, one of the highest level ones too
name so i can read more? any good books in general about high level cia hijinks?
arandomcanadian91 t1_j2zjrcc wrote
Ken Taylor, he did most of the scouting for Operation Eagle Claw.
[deleted] t1_j2w75dg wrote
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[deleted] t1_j3b6s7z wrote
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