Reprieve for genocide-era French soldiers

Prosecutors in France have asked magistrates to drop legal proceedings against five French military officers linked to a massacre of ethnic Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide. BBC News reports that investigators said they found no evidence of complicity by the French peacekeeping troops. They had been accused by survivors of abandoning Tutsis in the Bisesero region, leading to a massacre by ethnic Hutu extremists. France is expected to make public about 8 000 archive documents, including some that were previously classified. The archives were examined by a commission of experts led by historian Vincent Duclert who was tasked with analysing the role and engagement of France from 1990 to 1994. The commission was formed by French President Emmanuel Macron in April 2019 and it submitted its report in March. It found France had an ‘overwhelming responsibility’ for the genocide. It revealed how then-President Francois Mitterrand and the small group of diplomats and military officials surrounding him shared views inherited from colonial times, including the desire to maintain influence over a French-speaking country.