During four days, the French soldiers of Operation Turquoise allowed the last hunted Tutsi to be massacred in Bisesero

Bisesero, on the Zaire-Nile Ridge overlooking Lake Kivu, is a stronghold of Tutsi resistance to the attacks they have suffered since 1959.

In 1994, they organized resistance to the killers. The general attack of May 13 massacred tens of thousands of Tutsi, but survivors still remained in June.

While the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) soldiers were still far from this region, the prefect of Kibuye Kayishema reported to the interim government that the Tutsi of Bisesero were RPF infiltrators. They were nothing but cattle herders who have never seen the RPF.

The prefect requests weapons and support from the gendarmerie to conduct a search as part of the civil defense of the Bisesero sector.

Upon the announcement of Operation Turquoise, the Rwandan interim government decided to end the Tutsi presence in Bisesero, which was considered an RPF sanctuary. It asked the military commander of Gisenyi, Colonel Nsengiyumva, to send troops there to support the search operation of the population.

On the eve of Operation Turquoise, meeting in a Restricted Council around President Mitterrand, Admiral Lanxade, Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces, declared, "One of the problems is establishing technical contact with the F.A.R. (Rwandan Armed Forces) while maintaining limited visibility," which demonstrated the intention to take advantage of the humanitarian operation to discreetly support the Rwandan governmental army. Defense Minister Léotard stated, "The RPF is trying to completely seize Kigali and is making efforts on Butare and Kibuye." This announcement of an RPF offensive on Kibuye echoes the interim government's propaganda, which equates the last tutsi survivors in Bisesero with RPF fighters.

The first French soldiers to land in Goma as scouts were informed of the continuing massacres in the Kibuye region. American Sister Farrington, superior of the Sisters of Kibuye, met with Colonel Georges Lebel on June 21 and 23. Similarly, some survivors of the massacres, such as Josué Rubambana, told them about the ongoing massacres in Bisesero.

While Operation Turquoise was supposed to be neutral, Colonel Rosier, commander of the Special Forces (COS), met with the leaders of the genocide. He met with Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva on June 22, then with Foreign Ministers Jérôme Bicamumpaka and Augustin Bizimana of Defense on June 24, as well as with Prefects Bagambiki of Cyangugu and Kayishema of Kibuye.

In 1992, Colonel Rosier equipped the Rwandan army with 105mm mortars to increase its firepower against the RPF. French artillerymen demonstrated this during the fighting in Byumba in July 1992. As head of Operation Noroît, he was close to Rwandan military officials, who thanked him by having him decorated. Having fought the RPF, he was anything but neutral.

Arriving in Cyangugu with the first French soldiers of Operation Turquoise, Colonel Rosier had no intention of disarming the militiamen who were the main perpetrators of the massacres. "They're waging war, he said, for the sake of neutrality, we don't have to intervene."

On June 26, journalists Sam Kiley of the Times and Vincent Hugeux of L'Express met a French column commanded by Captain Eric Bucquet. Kiley showed him Bisesero on the map where Tutsi were located. The scene was filmed by CNN.

Frégate Capitaine Marin Gillier and his naval commandos set up camp in Gishyita, 5 kilometers from Bisesero, on June 27. Mayor Charles Sikubwabo claimed that the RPF was in the Bisesero region and was carrying out raids that terrorized the population. Gillier witnessed an attack on the morning of June 27 by militiamen led by the mayor. He also spoke with Minister of Information Eliezer Niyitegeka.

Air commandos led by Lieutenant Colonel Duval, nicknamed Diego, set up camp in Kibuye, in a school run by nuns. The nuns revealed to them that the massacres were continuing in Bisesero. On June 27, 1994, Duval went to Bisesero with a small reconnaissance group and journalists. They encountered Tutsis being hunted like game but abandoned them, promising to return in two or three days. Duval informed his superiors of the situation of these survivors, but they claimed he only sent his report on June 29, as indicated on his fax kept in the military archives. How can anyone believe it when he called and faxed upon his return to Kibuye on the evening of the 27th. Rosier forbade him from returning to Bisesero. Duval would confirm this a second time before Judge Choquet.

Around 3 p.m. on June 27, the headquarters of General Lafourcade, commander of Operation Turquoise, informed Paris that Tutsi were being massacred in the Gisovu region by militiamen. It was the militiamen that Gillier saw leaving and returning to Gishyita.

That evening, his superior, Colonel Rosier, revealed to journalists that elements of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) had infiltrated near Kibuye and had clashed with the "civil defense." "The RPF has infiltrated very, very deep into Rwandan government territory," says the France 2 reporter, "its aim is to cut what remains of Rwanda in two." TF1 also reports that a clash between 1,000 to 2,000 RPF troops and Hutu militias supported by the government army took place 15 kilometers from the town of Kibuye. The deception was complete; the hunted Tutsis became the aggressors.

For three days, the attacks against these "living dead" continued unabated, while French marine commandos watched through binoculars from 5 kilometers away and allowed the assassins armed with rifles, machetes, and studded sticks to pass.

On the 28th, Rosier had the Sisters of Namur evacuated by helicopter to Kibuye. They were no longer at risk since the French commandos were staying at their school. A ECPAD video shows Rosier listening to the account of the encounter with the Tutsi the day before in Bisesero. Sergeant Meynier tells him about these "guys who were walking around with pieces of torn flesh." "Um, um, yeah, yeah," says the colonel, wiping his jacket with his hands. Colonel Rosier is therefore fully informed of the ongoing massacres in Bisesero.

The "Communiqué aux Autorités COSA le 28 soir" (Subject: CRQ of June 28) contains the following: "A FAR SITREP concerning yesterday's operations in the Kibuye region mentions that it was the FAR who were surprised during the MEP and the preparation of their operation. It would be postponed until tomorrow." In short, a "Situation Report" from the Rwandan Armed Forces -- who are participating in the genocide -- mentions that they were surprised yesterday, June 27, during the implementation and preparation of their operation. What operation? The one on the 27th observed by marine commandos from Gishyita. Surprised by who? By Diego's reconnaissance in the Bisesero mountains based on information provided by the Sisters of Kibuye. The operation would therefore be postponed until the following day, the 29th, the day of Minister François Léotard's visit.

Indeed, on the 29th, when he was in Gishyita, "gunshots regularly echoed over the ridge" reports Corine Lesnes of Le Monde. While the minister inspected his troops, mandated by the UN to stop the massacres, ethnic cleansing continued up there in Bisesero. Pressed by journalists who told him they had seen "four children with burned hands" up there and that there were "still three thousand Tutsis prisoners," the minister said, according to Corine Lesnes, "tomorrow, we'll go there."

But the information communicated to journalists by French officials was completely different. According to them, RPF members had infiltrated near Lake Kivu and were harassing villages south of Kibuye, aiming to cut off the government zone. According to the marine commandos, there were 1,000 to 2,000 heavily armed "RPF fighters" 3 or 4 km from Gishyita on the shores of Lake Kivu.

In fact, the order given to the marine commandos on June 30 was to evacuate the French priest Jean-Baptiste Mendiondo, parish priest of Mukungu. They crossed Bisesero without stopping. It was journalists Michel Peyrard and Benoît Gysembergh of Paris-Match and Sam Kiley (transcription here) who alerted French soldiers who had remained behind: Captain Dunant of the 13th RDP and Warrant Officer Prungnaud of the GIGN. They returned to Bisesero, protected the Tutsi survivors threatened by Rwandan soldiers, and launched the rescue operation.

In light of these facts, it appears that Operation Turquoise, in addition to its stated humanitarian objective, also aimed to maintain the Rwandan interim government, its army (the FAR), and its militias in the western half of Rwanda and to force the RPF to negotiate. Therefore, the French military was not to openly take sides in the fighting waged by the FAR and the militias against the RPF. However, it was necessary to reinforce the FAR and the militias to halt the RPF's advance. French officials were convinced that the RPF was advancing by infiltration and that every Tutsi was a potential RPF fighter. Moreover, while the Rwandan army was disbanding, only the militias and self-defense groups were showing any willingness to fight the RPF.

Colonel Rosier, who was very close to the Rwandan army, was tasked with making initial contact with Rwandan civilian and military officials. With Lieutenant Colonel Nsengiyumva, they agreed to exchange information, and since the latter was tasked to support the search operations in Bisesero, Rosier likely agreed with him to allow to conclude the operation aiming to eradicate any RPF presence in the government-held area, considered Hutu territory. The reconnaissance in Bisesero was an initiative of Lieutenant Colonel Duval. Rosier refused the rescue he proposed and informed journalists of the discovery of RPF fighters who had reached the mountains overlooking Lake Kivu. This allowed the massacres to continue in full view of the French military. So much so that during Minister Léotard's visit on June 29, the operation to exterminate the Tutsi was still ongoing, and the French command was aware of it, as revealed in the COS note of June 28, 1994 (SHD code 2003 Z 17/23; D5023). It was at the initiative of journalists and French military personnel, reluctant to support the perpetrators, that this operation to hunt down the Tutsi had to be interrupted.

This connivance, compounded by the deception of portraying the victims as killers, is evidence of active complicity with the perpetrators of the genocide. Despite this, the French courts decided on September 7, 2022, to dismiss the investigation into the complaints filed by six Rwandans against the French army.

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