Rwanda, Operation Turquoise

Foreword

Some of us had the honor of serving in Rwanda in 1994 as part of Operation Turquoise.

They went there with their weapons, their orders, and their soldiers' convictions, but above all with the mission to protect and save lives in the heart of a country ravaged by one of the most appalling tragedies of our time.

They discovered a reality that books and speeches can never fully convey: massacred populations, shattered families, abandoned children, terrorized men and women, and pervasive violence. Faced with this horror, they did not look away. They did their duty.

Operation Turquoise was a French military operation conducted under a United Nations mandate. Those who participated were deployed under particularly difficult conditions, with the constraints inherent in any military operation and the immense responsibility of having to make decisions and act in an emergency.

Yet, for decades, some have tried to portray these soldiers as complicit in the very thing they came to fight.

We reject this accusation.

We reject it not out of clannishness, nor out of a desire to erase the tragedies of Rwanda, but because honor demands that we distinguish facts from inferences, political responsibility from military actions, and accusations from legally established truths.

The French justice system has had to consider these accusations. After an investigation that lasted many years, the case against the French soldiers implicated in the Bisesero affair was dismissed. This dismissal was upheld by the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal, and on September 9, 2026, the Court of Cassation rejected the appeals filed against this decision.

The proceedings are now definitively closed.

That is a fact. A legal fact. And this fact cannot be dismissed simply because it disrupts certain narratives.

We refuse to allow the French uniform to become a convenient scapegoat. We refuse to allow men who served their country to be condemned in the public eye for actions that the courts have not upheld.

France can acknowledge its mistakes when they are proven. It can confront its history, without weakness or complacency. But confronting its history does not mean defaming those who served it.

A French soldier does not always choose the war, nor the place where he will be sent. He receives a mission. He carries it out. He acts with the resources at his disposal, respecting his orders, his rules of engagement, and his ethics.

In 1994, in Rwanda, French soldiers were confronted with the unspeakable. They saw what man is capable of doing to man. And despite everything, they kept going.

We owe them the truth. We owe them respect.
We owe it to them not to let history be written in their place by those who weren't there.

This testimony is also an act of remembrance.

It is dedicated to those who served under the French flag in Rwanda.

To those who carried their comrades. To those who protected civilians.

To those who saved lives. To those who, sometimes, had to live for decades with the weight of what they had seen.

And above all, to those who returned with the conviction that they had done what military honor demands: to serve, to protect, and to accomplish the mission.

They have no reason to be ashamed of having worn the French uniform.

Neither do we.

Louis Perez y Cid

September 9, 2026: Case dismissed for French soldiers in the 1994 Bisesero massacre investigation

The French justice system has upheld the dismissal of charges against French soldiers in the investigation into possible "complicity in genocide" during the massacre of Tutsis in Bisesero, Rwanda, in 1994.

The associations Survie, Ibuka, FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), LDH (Human Rights League), and Licra, along with six survivors, accused the French soldiers of abandoning Tutsi civilians who had taken refuge in the hills of Bisesero (western Rwanda), allowing the massacre of hundreds of them by Hutus to take place from June 27 to 30, 1994. France was present in Rwanda at the time through Operation Turquoise, a humanitarian mission.

France's highest court, the Court of Cassation, ruled in its decision Wednesday that "it was not within the purview of the soldiers present at the scene to act without having received a specific order from their superiors, that is to say, the Ministry of Defense."

The judges further noted that "no evidence demonstrates an intention on the part of these officers to facilitate the commission of crimes against Tutsi civilians," specifying that the three-day delay before the intervention of emergency services was that of “Clarification of a situation that was still unclear at the time.”

The court’s conclusions are clear and definitive: “During the Bisesero events, the French military forces deployed in Rwanda were not complicit, through inaction, in crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against Tutsi civilians.” The Court of Cassation confirmed today “the thoroughness of the investigation.”

General Jean-Claude Fourcade, head of Operation Turquoise, had spoken out.

In this case, I have observed for over 20 years a relentless media and political campaign by various figures who have promoted the theory of the French military’s guilt and who have proven to be more activists than journalists or researchers. Those who will easily recognize themselves, not forgetting the Kigali regime, have done immense harm to our soldiers.

They participated in this disinformation and insinuation campaign through public comments, articles, interviews, books, participation in biased conferences, and petitions aimed at pressuring our country's justice system.

They should now be held accountable for having damaged the moral integrity of French soldiers wrongly accused of the most serious crimes. Are they capable of acknowledging their wrongdoing and restoring the honor of the soldiers they have defiled?
For 20 years, the media as a whole complacently relayed the defamatory theories and peremptory, mendacious assertions of these accusers. Editors should question their support for this odious and unjust disinformation. I urge them to take note of the Court of Cassation's decision, which is of historical significance. This is the very least we can expect from media professionals, in order to rehabilitate the actions of French soldiers.

I would like to remind everyone that Operation Turquoise was conducted with humanity, impartiality, and in accordance with the ethical principles that characterize the French army. France was the only major country to intervene to put an end to the genocide. Carried out under grueling and complex conditions, it saved thousands of lives and provided medical care to countless victims.

"It is high time that the French soldiers of Turquoise, now rehabilitated, can proudly display what they accomplished in Rwanda in 1994."