Chris McGreal writes in the Guardian:
The true nature of Operation Turquoise was laid bare by events in the hills of Bisesero in the western province of Kibuye. Even after French soldiers arrived, the governor of Kibuye, Clement Kayishema, led militia attacks in the hills to kill Tutsis who had survived the slaughter of about 21,000 people, a slaughter he had organised in local churches and stadiums. The French commander in Kibuye, Captain Marin Gillier, took the attitude that Kayishema was the legal authority and chose to believe the governor when he said the Tutsis in the hills were armed rebels even though the front line with the RPF was about 50km away.Hundreds more innocents were murdered before Gillier finally ventured into the hills. When he did, he recognised that the Tutsis there were not rebels and were armed only with sticks and bows and arrows to defend themselves. Many were starving, others severely wounded.
Ladsous's obfuscations are also preserved in a transcript of the 3368th meeting of the Security Council at 9:35 p.m. on April 21, 1994. Despite the massive influx of arms and ammunition to the Hutu government of Rwanda in the years leading up to the 1994 genocide; despite documented training of youth militias and the Interahamwe by French forces; and despite drug and arms trafficking by the French at Kigali's airport, Ladsous stood before a Thursday late evening meeting of the Security Council and had the audacity to say "France is dismayed by the scale of the violence." Of course the blame was placed squarely on Dallaire's ill-fated command of UNAMIR and the Rwandans, who "had several days to conclude a cease-fire."
As noted here, Ladsous argued for the gutting of UNAMIR.
The United Nations gave the Rwandese parties several days to conclude a cease-fire, which would have allowed UNAMIR to carry out the mandate given to it by Resolution 872 (993).Unfortunately, there is still no cease-fire, and the Security Council was therefore compelled to reconsider the conditions for UNAMIR's presence, reducing it to a minimal level. We hope that the Rwandese parties will come to their senses (emphasis added) and realize that the United Nations can neither take their place nor impose peace on them.
Come to their senses.
After this meeting the Security Council fulfilled France's wish, and passed resolution 912 to withdraw most of the UNAMIR peacekeepers from Rwanda.
Come to their senses. Someone should.
Ladsous did not explain that France underwrote the $6 million dollar arms deal for six D-30 122mm towed guns (with 3000 shells), 50 60mm and 20 82mm mortars (with 10,000 shells), over 6000 shells for 120-mm mortars, 2,000 RPG-7 anti-tank rockets, 2000 MAT-79 anti-personnel landmines, 450 Egyptian made Kalashnikov rifles, 200 kg of plastic explosives, and over 3.2 million rounds of ammunition. See Human Rights Watch Report (Appendices A3 and A4), and T he Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
And this deal was just the tip of an arms flow iceberg that inevitably exploded.
Come to their senses.
Perhaps it is time that the international community comes to its collective senses and asks, "Who is the shadowy Herve Ladsous?" Why has he consistently been at the helm of international "peacekeeping" for France during some of the darkest moments in racially tinged international "diplomacy?"
How culpable is Ladsous in the escalating tensions in central Africa that are now opening old wounds that can traced directly back to his tenure as number two at the United Nations during the worst genocidal killings in modern history?
Are we to believe the words on the leaflets dropped over the bleached bones of up to one million Tutsi corpses during Operation Turquoise?
"Fear not. The French army watches over your safety."
Why is the international community silent after Congo's army, working with the UN, targeted the village of Rumangabo saying it was a key site for rebels? Why do we ignore a civilian spokesman for the rebels, Kabasha Amani, who accused the army of targeting civilians, saying three children were among those killed? See this story.
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