Filippov V.R. Genocide in Rwanda: the role of France

Abstract: There is a tradition in Russian and foreign African studies to interpret genocide in Rwanda in 1994 as an irrational “interethnic conflict” between Tutsi and Hutu. But if we omit the ethnic connotations of the reasons of the massacre, it becomes clear that the powerful political actors stood behind its immediate participants and executors. Tutsis’ attack from Uganda on Rwanda’s territory, inspired by the US special services, was considered in Paris as American invasion in France’s sphere of interests. The methodology of the research is based on the system, structural-functional, comparative-historical, comparative-political, geopolitical and cultural-civilizational approaches, and the methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, modeling, and observation. The documents show that the strengthening of Tutsis’ positions, in the opinion of the Elysee Palace, threatened with the weakening of France’s positions on the Black continent in general. And the USA considered Rwanda as a bridge-head for invasion into Tropical Africa: the Americans were aimed at rich Zaire (the DRC). Here we should look for the reasons of a humanitarian crisis both in Rwanda and in the whole region.

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