Past is past

Re “Rwanda’s trial,” Opinion, Nov. 14

Stephen Kinzer makes serious, unsupported accusations against my country. He seems content to take at face value the theses developed by a Rwandan commission whose mandate, given by the Rwandan regime, was to “gather proof showing French involvement in the genocide perpetrated in Rwanda in 1994.”

A major investigation into France’s role in Rwanda was carried out in 1998 by a French parliamentary task force. It confirmed that France bears no responsibility whatsoever in the genocide. Furthermore, France has cooperated closely with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda since it was set up.

Lastly, Kinzer seems to see Rwandan official Rose Kabuye’s arrest on charges of involvement in the 1994 assassination of Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana as a political test of strength between Paris and Kigali. Nothing could be further from the truth. In France, as in the United States, the judiciary is completely independent.

But in the end, what really matters is that the French government is determined to put the past behind us and build a new relationship with Rwanda. This will remain our goal in spite of allegations that try relentlessly to bring us back to the past.

Pierre Vimont

French ambassador

to the United States

Washington