Word: rwanda
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France's change of position is also an indication of how important Sarkozy views Rwanda in his efforts to radically revise French strategy toward Africa. For the past 40 years, Paris has dealt with its former African colonies under an interventionist policy called Françafrique, under which France propped up client regimes in Africa in order to maintain its political and business interests on the continent. Now Sarkozy is looking to loosen France's heavy political and military commitments in Africa and pass the responsibilities of maintaining security to a group of stable and reliable partners in the region...
...wants to recenter and strengthen these relations on economic and business ties in Africa - especially to counter China's big advances - and Rwanda is vital to that," says Pap Ndiaye, a specialist in black history in Europe, Africa and the U.S. at the School of Advanced Social Science Studies in Paris. "Despite his early promises to change France's relationships with Africa, he's mostly kept Françafrique intact. His very significant gesture to restore relations with Rwanda may prove the first real move towards change...
...that tenuous partnership to blossom, Sarkozy must deal with the lingering consequences of the 1994 massacre. Foremost among those is the continued presence in France of more than a dozen Rwandan genocide suspects whom Rwandan President Paul Kagame wants tried before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Apparently signaling its willingness to respect the Rwandan demands, France last month arrested a Rwandan doctor and alleged war criminal, Sosthene Munyemana, who is wanted in Rwanda for the slaughter of Tutsis in the city of Butare. "This issue was without doubt central to all the negotiations prior to Sarkozy's visit...
Still, it won't bury another bone of contention: the arrest warrants that have been issued by a French investigating judge for several members of former Tutsi militias who now sit in Rwanda's government. The men are suspected of having shot down the plane of the nation's President, a Hutu, in 1994 - an attack that sparked the genocide, which, in turn, allowed the Tutsis to reclaim power. The judge's inquiry, which seeks to determine if the Tutsi militias could have engineered the massacre of their own people in a Machiavellian scheme to take control, is what prompted...
These claims and counterclaims remain a dividing point between the countries. And to be sure, accused killers on both sides of the conflict remain free despite international warrants for their arrest. So while Sarkozy's humble mission to Rwanda is being seen as a good start toward reconciliation, it remains to be seen whether the trip will bear any real fruit - and if it will lead to France finally burying Françafrique and forging a new relationship with Africa...