KARONGI – A group of French nationals, currently on a tour of the country, yesterday, announced their plan to implement a development package worth Rfw80 million meant for the support of Genocide survivors in Bisesero, Karongi District.

The support includes a fully functional nursery and primary school with extra classrooms to cater for the nine-year basic education programme and 170 cows as a support to the Government’s Girinka initiative in the area.

In an interview with The New Times, Dr. Anne Marie Truc, the head of the delegation, expressed the group’s commitment to ensure that the survivors lead a decent life. "We will do everything possible to help Rwandans to recover from the effects of the horrible massacres of 1994,” Truc said.

The donation comes at the back of widespread accusations that France, under former president Francois Mitterand, aided the Rwandan extremist government as it killed its own people during the Genocide.

In Bisesero, French troops, under Operation Tourqouise, are, particularly, accused of having openly assisted militias in the killing of Tutsis who had managed to resist earlier attacks from the Interahamwe militia

During the team’s tour of Karongi District, Truc strongly criticised Mitterand’s government and accused the West of doing nothing to prevent the Genocide despite early warnings.

The group, known as Intore za Dieulefit, said that officials of their government and influential military officers, at the time, lied to the French nationals regarding the Genocide in Rwanda.

Mitterand and his government are accused of supporting, training and arming Interahamwe, the paramilitary militia, largely responsible for the slaughter of over a million people within just 100 days.

The delegation, which is in Rwanda to help improve the relations between the two countries, also admitted that France was, to a great extent, responsible for the spread of the hate ideology that culminated into Genocide.

"We are seeking to renew and strengthen our (countries’) relations although our former leaders did nothing to help you in the time of need,” Truc said.

In 1993, the late Jean Carbonare, a renowned human rights activist, publicly declared that a genocide was being planned at the time, but his warning was ignored.

Bernard Kayumba, the Mayor of Karongi District, noted that such initiatives were healthy for the restoration of cordial relationship between the two countries.

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