By IGNATIUS SSUUNA & ROBERT MUKOMBOZI
The New Times

France owes the world an explanation as to why it has refused to bring to justice the late Juvenal Habyarimana’s wife Agathe, for her role in the 1994 Genocide. Justice Minister,Tharcisse Karugarama said that twelve years after the genocide, France has continued to shield Agathe Habyarimana (pictured), the woman whose hands are tainted with genocide blood.

“What France is doing is abnormal. This woman is a criminal and is listed under Category One of the genocide suspects,” Karugarama said by phone on Tuesday. He said that France’s continued protection of genocide perpetrators is an indicator that the European country is a liability to the administration of justice and the rule of law in the world.

“She must be arrested and be prosecuted for her role in the genocide. They are shooting themselves in the foot,” Karugarama said. “The French government”, Karugarama stressed, “must be honest, credible and straightforward and stop misleading the world.”

He added that by protecting Agathe Habyarimana, “France is selective and, inspired by politics and hatred against the current leadership.” He said evidence indicates that Habyarimana’s wife took part in the planning and execution of the killings, which saw an estimated one million Rwandans killed in a record spell of 100 days.

Agathe Habyarimana is among other crimes accused of ordering the killing of former Prime Ministry, Agathe Uwiligiyimana. The Office of Prosecutor General mid this year released a list of 93 genocide suspects, with Agathe Habyarimana among the fugitives.

Agathe is also said to have mobilized massively, together with Akazu members to kill Tutsi women, saying were ‘the reasons why all Hutus were suffering’. A French Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin is also among the French government officials that backed the genocide.

Karugarama also castigated the recent move by a French magistrate, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, describing it as baseless.

President Paul Kagame has laughed off Bruguiere’s indictments for nine Rwandan army officers, saying it was a manifestation of how the French were gambling. He has warned France against interference in Rwanda’s internal affairs and urged other African leaders to resist persistent meddling by some western countries.