Rwandan army had French missiles at time of Habyarimana death, report reveals

Mystery surrounds the discovery of a UN document by a British journalist which reveals the presence of 15 French Mistral ground-to-air missiles in the Rwandan army arsenal in the build-up to the 1994 genocide. At the time, the exportation of these missiles was strictly forbidden. 

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According to the left-wing daily Liberation, the discovery raises new questions over who was behind the assassination of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana whose plane was shot down on 6 April, 1994.

His death was the trigger for the genocide of more than 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis at first blamed on the rebel Rwandan Popular Front, FPR, led by current President Paul Kagamé.

The Rwandan army has always denied it was behind Habyarimana’s murder claiming they did not possess any missiles. France, which trained and supplied equipment to the Rwandan army, backed the claim and argued that without missiles they could not have carried shot down the air craft.

The list of weapons has been handed over to French judge Marc Trévidic who is heading latest French inquiry into the assassination.

Meanwhile, the UN court for Rwanda on Thursday handed a life sentence to a former youth minister found guilty of being among the top planners of the 1994 genocide.

Callixte Nzabonimana was found guilty of genocide, plotting to commit genocide, incitement to commit genocide and extermination.

The three judges found that Nzabonimana had incited people to exterminate Tutsi at public appearances in different parts of the province in April, May and June 1994.

His lead defence counsel, Vincent Courcelle-Labrousse, questioned as he left the courtroom, said he had decided to appeal.