François Picard is pleased to welcome Juliette Bour, historian and author of a forthcoming book in French entitled "Like Men: Women Politicians Complicit in the Rwandan Genocide". More than three decades after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, France continues to confront difficult questions about its political, military and diplomatic role during one of the most horrific atrocities of the 20th century. The inauguration of a memorial and monument in Paris, attended by President Emmanuel Macron, marks another step in a long and contentious process of historical reckoning.
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Bour's book examines the role of women involved in the genocide in Rwanda and reflects on how the debate has evolved. For her, the publication of the Duclert Commission report and the opening of French archives fundamentally transformed the conversation, helping to "set a truth about what happened in Rwanda and the role of France". Yet she argues that this recognition remains incomplete and contested. "There are still people that are denying the role of France," she observes, particularly among former political actors and those invested in defending decisions taken in 1994.
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Drawing on years of fieldwork and archival research, Bour highlights the growing body of evidence showing that warnings about escalating violence reached French officials before the genocide. She also contrasts France's slow acknowledgment of responsibility with Belgium's earlier efforts at self-examination, noting that "the main difference between the attitude of Belgium and France is that Belgium asked for forgiveness in the early 2000s."
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Our guest also turns to one of the most controversial unresolved questions: the case of Agathe Habyarimana, widow of former Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana, who has lived in France for decades. Bour argues that her presence in France remains emblematic of wider failures of accountability. More broadly, she contends that the decades-long delay in prosecuting genocide suspects residing in France was a reflection of French policy.
