Capt. Paul Barril: The mysterious merchant of death

Well, well.... it seems there are still more skeletons in Capt. Paul Barril’s cupboard.Readers may remember the secretive gentleman, former head of the anti terrorism unit in the French President’s office during Mitterand’s time. He came to prominence in the aftermath of the Genocide brandishing a black mangled piece of metal claiming it was the Black box from former President Juvenal Habyarimana’s ill-fated plane.Whether Barril was plain stupid or he thought his audience was, it was obvious he had never seen an aircraft Black box before, because, had he had the occasion, he would not have ridiculed himself pompously displaying a black piece from the wreckage because an aircraft’s “Black box” is actually painted a “florescent orange” for easy detection in case of an accident!The poor fellow must have buried his head in the sand, his five minutes of fame having turned out to be a lifetime of shame.Now the not-so-expert in avionics is back in the news, this time on the receiving end.A French judge investigation the shooting down of President Habyarimana’s plane, Marc Trevidic, did what his predecessor avoided for some obscure reason; he got a search warrant and turned Barril’s residence and offices upside down and landed on a treasure trove of information.As to why French investigators did not put Barril under the microscope, seeing that he had been very vocal and played a pivotal part in the whole matter, is an enigma. French officials would later confide in researchers that Barril was “untouchable and very dangerous” as he was the protégée of the country’s eminence grise of France’s cloak-and-dagger world, Francois de Grossouvre.Experts concur that Barril enjoyed such important clout because he had the backing of Elysee Palace. He had also developed a close-knit relationship with former President Habyarimana’s inner circle and had virtually taken over the security of the first family. He was also later to become the main covert supplier of weapons to the armed forces, even after it had fled to the former Zaire.A letter addressed to Capt. Paul Barril from Rwanda’s then Minister of Defence, Augustin Bizimana, has been obtained by a French newspaper, ‘Le Parisien’.In this correspondence titled “Urgent”, Bizimana, informs Barril that his country is in dire straits and seeks his professional services. He requested for various types of weapons as well as 1,000 mercenaries to help the interim government fight off the RPF rebels as the execution of the genocide continued. The price tag: US$3,130,000.The contract was signed on April 28, 1994, at the Rwandan embassy in Paris.According to other official documents, between May 9 and 13, 1994, Lt. Col. Ephraim Rwabalinda, Advisor to the Army Chief of Staff and liaison officer, met with Jean Pierre Huchon, France’s Chief of Military Cooperation.Rwabalinda was accompanied by Rwanda’s Military Attaché in Paris, Lt. Col Sebastian Ntahobari and Lt. Col Cyprien Kayumba.An agreement was reached to supply the former government army with equipment, including a secure communication channel, The encrypted satellite phone to enable Huchon and General Bizimungu communicated were shipped to Rwanda shortly after.But the carefully laid out plan came tumbling down when the UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo which France could not openly flout. Enter the super Gendarme, Paul Barril.A second “assistance contract” to supply arms and 20 “military specialists” was signed between Barril and the then Prime Minister in Exile, Jean Kambanda. The latter is serving a life sentence in Mali, having pleaded guilty to Genocide.The merry-go-round that has clouded the investigations into the April 6, 1994 shooting down of Habyrimana’s plane, the elaborate degree in whichevidence has been concealed, and mysterious endings of some of the major players, cannot fail to raise eyebrows. Less than 24 hours of his death, Grossouvre was found dead in his office. It was ruled a suicide but his family contested it since his bodyguard had not heard any shots.A few months later, in July, Rwabalinda was shot dead in a refugee camp in Zaire as he prepared to go to Europe to meet judge Bruguire where it was believed, as some publications report, he was ready to “spill the beans”. The military attaché, Ntahobali, soon followed. He died mysteriously in a Paris suburb. Conspiracy theory or not, we may never know, but what is crystal clear is that it is not healthy to get close to the modern mercenary; Capt. Paul Barril.

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Capt. Paul Barril: The mysterious merchant of death