Paris Tries to Mitigate a Disgrace

Foreign troops are going to the aid of Rwanda--finally. After months of unchecked killing and international posturing, France is taking the lead; but is that the good news or the bad?

With the blessings of the talky and inept U.N. Security Council, France is sending in a 2,500-person force that includes marines and Foreign Legion paratroopers. Its ambitious goal is to protect the Tutsi minority from further massacres without itself getting bogged down in the violence.

Tutsi rebels are scarcely grateful. They claim France provided arms, advisers and cash to Rwanda’s army, which is dominated by Hutus, opponents of the Tutsis in the internecine conflict. Those weapons, the rebels believe, allowed government troops to massacre Tutsi civilians after a suspicious plane crash killed Rwanda’s Hutu president in April. That makes France the enemy, and complicates the mission. That France is neutral after the body count has surpassed 200,000 is of no solace to Tutsis who have lost entire families.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe told a Paris newspaper, “It is no longer the time to stand by and deplore the massacres with folded arms.” Paris has a point, because that’s exactly what the rest of the West is doing.

Most African nations too--with the notable exceptions of Ghana and Senegal--have failed to respond to Rwanda’s plight, even though U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has pleaded with African leaders. Several promised troops but most of these later begged off, saying they have problems at home or can’t afford it or offering some other excuse. Others are truly willing but not able because their troops are poorly equipped. They need help from wealthier nations, including the United States. Why the continued, morally miasmal delay?

South Africa, though it has its own problems, at least committed a field hospital to Rwanda. And President Nelson Mandela rightly scolded other heads of state at a recent Organization of African Unity session. Rwanda, Mandela said, is the shame of the continent. Rwanda, it can also be said, is the shame of the world.