France drops criminal investigation of Rwandan officials over 1994 plane crash

<p>French investigators have dropped charges against nine Rwandan officials, including former defense minister James Kabarebe, who were suspected of playing a role in the 1994 plane crash which killed President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane alongside the French crew.&nbsp;</p> <p>The crash preceded the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi minority which saw an estimated 800,000 people killed.&nbsp;</p> <p>The investigation was dropped citing a lack of sufficient evidence.&nbsp;<br> Rwandan government officials have welcomed the closing of this investigation, which they assert was politically motivated.</p> <p>The investigation was originally opened in 2012, where it concluded that a missile was launched from a Rwandan military camp. This implicated the Rwandan regime in power at the time as opposed to the Rwandan Patriotic Front, who was able to end the genocide and take power.&nbsp;</p> <p>France reopened the investigation however after a prominent Rwandan exile claimed that Paul Kagame, the current President, ordered the rockets be shot at the plane. Kagame denies these claims.</p> <p>Speaking to journalists Foreign Minister Dr Richard Sezibera said,&nbsp;“we welcome this decision which brings to an end a brazen attempt over two decades to obstruct justice for the genocide against the Tutsi, and prevent accountability for both the perpetrators and their wilful accomplices.”</p> <p>The Rwandan government are critical of France, accusing the state of being complicit with the genocidal regime and willing to turn a bling eye to the slaughter that was unfolding.&nbsp;</p> <p>They named 22 senior French military officers who they accuse of helping plan and carry out the genocide through their support for the Rwandan army.&nbsp;</p> <p>Whilst France has denied these allegations, it has launched a number of inquiries examining their own complicity with the attacks.</p>