Ten years ago I was disturbed by the inaction of US administrators with respect to Rwanda. The African Great Lakes region was in turmoil. Burundi military massacred Hutu villagers in 1993. Tutsi were targets of popular violence by Hutu in Rwanda. Years of ethnic strife had produced large camps of Tutsi in other countries. The Arusha conference was supposed to integrate those Tutsi back into Rwanda. Part of the plan was to create a power sharing government between Habyarimana, the dictator of Rwanda, and the leaders of the Tutsi rebels (RPL). The power-sharing agreement was unpopular. Hutu radio stations broadcasted false reports of violence against Hutus; they started to demand the extermination of the cockaroaches! The explosion of violence came with the downing of the plane of Habyarimana by a rocket shot as the plane was prepairing to land in Kigali. Habyarimana and the President of Burundi were killed ... assassinated. Hutu radio blamed Tutsi rebels. The assassination sparked genocidal violence throughout the country.

The question of who shot down the plane has not been answered, but it could be: Jake Rosenfeld of Political Aims notes that the flight recorder of Habyarimana's planes may have been hidden away in order to hide errors made by UN and France in 1994. Indeed, France has done what it could to show that the rockets were fired by RPL forces. A flight recorder might not prove who the assassins were, but it should be made public in order to promote openness in Rwanda.