Background of a Diplomatic Scandal

Decades of Rwanda-France Relations

Abstract

Rwanda severed diplomatic relations with France on November 24, 2006, after French investigating judge Bruguére issued arrest warrants for several senior leaders of the Central African country. The charges were as follows: there is a reasonable suspicion that they gave the order to shoot down the plane of the then president, Juvénál Habyarimana, on April 6, 1994, thus starting one of the bloodiest genocides of the 20th century.
The study outlines the political history of Rwanda after 1961 by analyzing Franco-Rwandan diplomatic relations. Are there surprising connections, personal connections, or historical coincidences behind the tragedy, or can we speak of precisely planned atrocities?