\n France and Rwanda have had a stormy, sometimes poisonous relationship since the 1994 genocide.\n<\/p>\n
\n With a commission of historians due to report on the role Paris played in the central African nation, this a timeline of their fraught relations.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 1990: French go in -\n<\/p>\n
\n Rwanda's Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana calls for help from France and former colonial power Belgian to fight off Ugandan-based rebels from the Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR) led by Rwanda's current president, Paul Kagame.\n<\/p>\n
\n Paris sends troops in what is called \"Operation Noroit\" in October, officially to protect is embassy and citizens there. But France also secretly helps train the Rwandan army.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 1994: Genocide -\n<\/p>\n
\n On April 6 Habyarimana is killed when his aircraft is shot down over Kigali.\n<\/p>\n
\n The next day the genocide begins. From April to July 4 around 800,000 people are killed, most of them from the Tutsi minority, as well as moderate Hutus.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Tutsis are accused by the Hutu-dominated regime of colluding with the FPR, who had entered northern Rwanda from Uganda in 1990.\n<\/p>\n
\n Some 500 French paratroopers evacuate more than 1,000 French citizens and foreigners.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Operation Turquoise -\n<\/p>\n
\n On June 22 the United Nations gives France the green light for Operation Turquoise, a military operation in Rwanda with humanitarian ends.\n<\/p>\n
\n The mainly Tutsi FPR accuses France of seeking to save the Hutu regime and the perpetrators of the slaughter.\n<\/p>\n
\n Some 2,500 French soldiers create a safe humanitarian zone in the south west, effectively hindering the FPR's advance but also allowing fleeing genocide suspects to hide.\n<\/p>\n
\n On July 4 the FPR seizes the capital Kigali, ending the genocide.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 1998: French probe -\n<\/p>\n
\n A French parliamentary mission exonerates France from involvement in the genocide in December, but says it bears some responsibility due to strategic errors and \"institutional dysfunction\".\n<\/p>\n
\n Rwanda insists France is guilty of genocide.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 2006: Relations broken off -\n<\/p>\n
\n French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere recommends President Kagame be prosecuted by the UN-backed tribunal trying Rwanda's genocide suspects for suspected participation in Habyarimana's assassination. He signs nine arrest warrants for Kagame's aides.\n<\/p>\n
\n Rwanda breaks off diplomatic relations with France. Ties are not restored until November 2009.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 2010: France admits mistakes -\n<\/p>\n
\n French president Nicolas Sarkozy acknowledges France made mistakes during the genocide.\n<\/p>\n
\n But he stops short of apologising during the first visit to Rwanda by a French president since the bloodbath.\n<\/p>\n
\n In September 2011 Kagame makes his first official visit to France.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 2014: French genocide trials -\n<\/p>\n
\n A French court sentences a former Rwandan army captain to 25 years in prison in the country's first trial linked to the genocide.\n<\/p>\n
\n In July 2016 two former Rwandan mayors are sentenced to life in jail in France.\n<\/p>\n
\n - New Rwandan accusations -\n<\/p>\n
\n Twentieth anniversary commemorations of the genocide are held in Kigali in April 2014 without a French representative.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kagame again accuses France of \"participating\" in the genocide.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 2018: Detente -\n<\/p>\n
\n President Emmanuel Macron hosts Kagame in Paris in May, saying the normalisation of relations is under way but \"will no doubt take time\".\n<\/p>\n
\n In December French judges drop a long-running investigation into the killing of Habyarimana.\n<\/p>\n
\n The probe had been a major source of tension between the two countries after seven people close to Kagame were charged.\n<\/p>\n
\n Kagame says he wants a fresh start in relations and has not ruled out the return of a French ambassador to Kigali, a post vacant since October 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
France and Rwanda have had a stormy, sometimes poisonous relationship since the 1994 genocide. With a commission of historians due to report on the role Paris played in the central African nation, this a timeline of their fraught relations. - 1990: French go in - Rwanda's Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana calls for help from France […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-75378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n