Hubert Védrine devant la Mission parlementaire : « À l'époque tout le monde vivait dans l'idée qu'il y avait une épée de Damoclès au-dessus du Rwanda qui était le retour des massacres ! »

Cormery, Antoine

Rochot, Philippe

5 mai 1998

19980505

13:00:00

CEST

Journal de 13 heures [1:34]

Hubert Védrine devant la Mission parlementaire : « À l'époque tout le monde vivait dans l'idée qu'il y avait une épée de Damoclès au-dessus du Rwanda qui était le retour des massacres ! »

Par sa position à l'Élysée, Hubert Védrine voyait passer tous les télégrammes concernant le Rwanda.

VedrineMissionRwanda5mai1998fr2.mp4

5381185 bytes

France 2

INA

Journal télévisé

FR

- After Edouard Balladur and some of his ministers, it is Hubert Védrine's turn to be heard by the Parliamentary Mission on Rwanda. At the time of the genocide, Hubert Védrine was secretary general of the Élysée.
- Hubert Védrine, through his position at the Élysée, saw all the telegrams concerning Rwanda. In his hearing, he will therefore insist on François Mitterrand's desire to help ensure the security of this country against the offensive of the rebels from Uganda. But at the Élysée, when the Rwandan head of state was killed, we quickly understood the extent of the tragedy.
- Hubert Védrine, Minister of Foreign Affairs: "I remember the day of the François Mitterrand attack in my office saying to myself: 'it's going to be terrible'".
- François Mitterrand and his advisers therefore had in mind the possibility of massacres and had conducted their policy in Rwanda knowingly.
- Hubert Védrine: "'Could we anticipate the genocide?'. People are always clever afterwards in the events. They know everything, they have understood everything, they have seen everything. Is that everyone still lived in the idea, not that there would be the genocide as it happened in such atrocious proportions, but everyone lived in the idea that there was a sword of Damocles over this country which was the return of the massacres! Everyone knew it! The only idea that had been found was to reach a political agreement that would have worked somehow".
- Finally, Hubert Védrine considers that American passivity, the fears of the international community of getting their finger in the wheel, the Somali syndrome which still reigned at the time paralyzed any decision at the United Nations to prevent the genocide.

https://francegenocidetutsi.fr/fgtshow.php?num=31029