Rwandan Leader Denies Role in 1994 Jet Crash

Rwanda’s president said Friday that he doubted that an aircraft’s “black box” found at the U.N. would answer any questions about a crash blamed for triggering the country’s 1994 genocide.

President Paul Kagame also dismissed claims published in the Paris daily Le Monde this week that he ordered the shooting down of the Falcon 50 on April 6, 1994, killing the men who then were the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi.

Thursday, the United Nations said the black box had turned up in a filing cabinet. A U.N. spokesman said officials would give the device to outside experts to see if it came from the downed aircraft.

“What does the black box tell you about what happened? Maybe it will tell you that the plane crashed and it was shot, but it will not tell you the identity of the one who shot it down,” Kagame told reporters after meeting with EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Poul Nielson in Brussels.

“It is as if the black box ... explains or gives the excuse as to why genocide took place in Rwanda. Again for me that is nonsense.... The black box, the plane, this is just a red herring and diversionary,” Kagame said.

The plane crash was widely blamed at the time for triggering the 1994 slaughter of about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus by the Hutu regime then in power in Rwanda.

Le Monde had reported that the black box had been sent to U.N. headquarters in New York and was never seen again. The paper also accused the U.N. of obstructing an investigation.