THE French nation, like the US and England, is known for capitalising on instability in Africa.
A recent example is France’s role in the fall of Muammar Gaddafi and Libya. During a war, sides are picked by interested parties who intervene.
In the case of Rwanda, France entered the conflict firmly against the Tutsi rebels and for the Hutu Government and extremists alike.
French presence was notable in the military and other commissions to do with intelligence. French troops could mostly be found on roadblocks in the period between 1991 and late 1993. They gave free passage to Hutus after seeing their National ID’s ethnic classification.
However, if identified as Tutsi, the males could be arrested and interrogated for information on the Tutsi rebels. For this reason there were interrogation camps in places like the Interahamwe training camp of Kigali.
The females who were attractive were systematically raped by French soldiers. This was done on several occasions to numerous victims.
Some of the survivors of the ordeals gave verbal testimonies that were put into writing by a commission that was held after the genocide. After being scrutinised, it was found that the reports of the victims concurred with those of the witnesses who also named the same roadblocks, camps and times in which the rapes occurred. The testimonies are heartbreaking but stand as eye openers to the inhumanness of the French.
The French assumed that because many Tutsis had rebelled against the Government, they were therefore forsaken and void of protection. Thus the French exclusively targeted Tutsi women, some as young as 10 years old, and sexually abused them.
We shall now look at some of the experiences of the victims of sexual abuse by the French. Most of these acts of physical assault and rape took place at roadblocks that were around the capital city such as Remera, Cumi Na Kabiri and Nyacyonga which was the most frequented place where rapes reportedly took place.
According to a former Interahamwe called Herman Afrika, French soldiers had begun sexually abusing Tutsis by October 1990; just after the war had started. In this period the French were handed over all the Tutsis who would have been captured by the Hutu militia. They would physically assault them and rape the pretty girls and women among the captives.
On one occasion, a man called Emmanuel Nkuliyingoma was arrested along with another girl. They were both stripped and the girl was taken away into a tent. She returned crying and told Emmanuel that she had been raped by French soldiers in turns. The morning after, Emmanuel and the girl were forced to have intercourse in the presence of the French troops several times.
A witness called Yvonne Mutumira reported having seen French soldiers rape Tutsi girls on several occasions. They did this in numbers and in a drunken state.
She once saw uniformed French soldiers raping Tusti girls in public. They were screaming for help but the Rwandese troops could not help because the French had come into the country as their allies.
According to another witness called Lucien Nibaseke, the French who were near Kagugu on the outskirts of Kigali gave money to the Interahamwe in exchange for beautiful Tutsi girls. These girls were taken by force by way of ambush. Lucien related an incident that victimised her neighbours.
Girls from the Mi household were captured by the Interahamwe in the forest while returning from church on a Sunday.
They were handed over to the French troops who raped them and dismissed them afterwards. This happened openly and the girls sobbed as bystanders mocked at them.
Wellars Kayiranga told of an account whereby the 10-year-old daughter of a Tutsi man called Ruzindaza Jean Baptiste, who owned a garage at Kabuye, was raped in turns at a roadblock on the Kigali to Byumba Road in 1992. The girl was so young and underdeveloped that after the rape, her legs could not return to their normal position.
Bela Mu was a Tutsi woman who reported on how she was forced into sex slavery by the French soldiers. One of the French troops had completely claimed ownership of her and did with her what he pleased. She was subjected to rape and foul acts such as sodomy and fellatio. At times she was given to other comrades for days before being returned to the French soldier who claimed her and they would perform similar acts on her.
In addition to that, the French troops took sexual stimulants.
Bela was very disturbed by her experience and showed her anguish while being interviewed by the Commission which looked into these human rights violations. She once contracted a sexually transmitted disease and was forced to take pills by her rapist. The side effects of the pills almost made her blind.
At the time of the commission, her eyesight was just beginning to recover. She helped identify some of the Interahamwe who captured Tustsi girls and supplied them to French troops. One of them was called Muriro and he was infamous for killing Tutsis.
Bela Mu named another girl who was her neighbour and had become a sex slave to the French. Her name was Mukak. She said that many of the other girls she knew and had fallen to sexual abuse by the French were dead.
A witness called Bea Muk related the same story as Bela. He witnessed Mukak’s capture and rape, along with other girls called Ha and Muka. Bea Muk was their friend and only Mukak survived till after the genocide but she would also die shortly after. Bea identified some of the Interahamwe who were behind the capture of these girls as Nsabimana and Simpunga.
Another witness called Justin Rutareka confirmed the case of Mukak who was his friend. Along with her capture was that of other girls namely Muka and Mukan who were also raped. Justin relates an incident whereby Mukak was violently beaten by her rapist because he had contracted a sexually transmitted disease and blamed her.
One of the most tragic incidences of sexual assault happened to a 20-year-old girl called Jeanne Mukarusine. French troops spotted her leaving a night club and ordered her to come along with them.
Knowing that the French were into raping Tutsi girls, Jeanne refused and in turn she was beaten up and forced into a car. She was forcibly stripped and a knife was used to stab her genitalia. The French soldiers then used their hands to smear the gushing blood on to her face and dumped her bare and bruised body by the roadside, leaving her for dead.
She was spotted by a security guard and the police attended to her. Medical examinations at Kigali Central Hospital confirmed that a severe and deep wound had cut into her uterus and damaged other body parts in that area.
Lieutenant Mugabo, on behalf of the French, approached Jeanne and bribed her with 500 000 Rwandan Francs and forced her to relocate to her village of origin in Mugusa. She was threatened and told not to reveal her assault and assaulters to anyone, particularly in Kigali.
Jeanne had been assaulted on February 6 and by the 14th of the same month, she had been chased off to her village in order to protect the French from persecution for assault and attempted murder.
Evidently she did not receive adequate healthcare and this led to her death a few days after her arrival in her hometown. Such was the fate of Tutsi women who resisted rape by French soldiers.