France bears “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” over the 1994 Rwanda genocide, a report by French historians says, but they found no evidence of French complicity.
The expert commission presented the report to French President Emmanuel Macron. The report said France had been “blind” to genocide preparations.
At least 800,000 people died when ethnic Hutu extremists massacred minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
The team studied French official files.
Rwanda, which has long accused France of complicity, said it welcomed the report.
The government said it “represents an important step toward a common understanding of France’s role in the genocide against the Tutsi”.
A Hutu elite ruled Rwanda when the genocide took place, in April-June 1994, but they were later ousted by the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) under Paul Kagame, who is now president.
The report blames the then French President, François Mitterrand, for a “failure” of policy towards Rwanda in 1994. The findings are being made public after years of French official secrecy over links to the Hutus who ruled Rwanda.
