These survivors of the Tutsi genocide testify to the rapes committed by French soldiers, in a documentary

Many horrors were committed during the genocide against the Tutsis by the Hutus in Rwanda in 1994. Among them, the rapes perpetrated by French soldiers against Tutsi survivors are still under discussion, almost thirty years later. This is what the new documentary tells Rwanda: the silence of wordsbroadcast by Arte and co-directed by artist Gaël Faye and journalist Michael Sztanke.

They hold the microphone women who survived the genocide against the Tutsis by the Hutus. They testify of rapes committed by French soldiers during Operation Turquoise. Launched on June 22, 1994, this military device aims to rescue the few Tutsis who survived the massacres of the previous two months. The French army therefore contributed to the creation of Tutsi refugee camps. In a promotional video for the documentarysums up Gaël Faye for Arte:

“What’s terrible in this story is that when they arrive in the fields held by the French, they think they are safe. And those who call themselves saviors go back to being executioners. “

Among the victims, Concessa Musabyimana testifies in particular in the documentary:

“We were used to suffering and it made our situation worse.

[…] After we went to bed, we heard someone knock on the curtain. And when we got up, we found ourselves in front of a French soldier armed with a rifle. And there they got me. One soldier photographed me naked and another raped me. He didn’t stop. The next day he started again. They came back to get me with other girls. We were many. “

If there are three who dare to testify in the documentary, six complaints were filed in France between 2004 and 2014 by Rwandan female victims. Gaël Faye to complete:

“When I was interviewing these women, and they told me what the French soldiers had done, as a Frenchman, I felt embarrassed. Because these women have filed a complaint and are still awaiting justice. “

Indeed, education is still standing today. The French soldiers, legionaries in their early twenties at the time, are now in their fifties. The French army refutes the allegations and refuses to cooperate in identifying the soldiers involved. Committed in connection with the genocide against the Tutsis, these rapes have been reclassified as crimes against humanity and are therefore imprescriptible. This further increases France’s difficulties in recognizing its responsibility in the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda.

Front page photo credit: Screenshot of the documentary on Arte.tv