View source for Opération Turquoise

{{Short description|1994 French-led military operation in Rwanda}}

{{Infobox military operation
|name = Opération Turquoise
|image = File:RPF advance Rwandan genocide with Zone Turquise.png
|caption = Map showing the advance of the RPF during the genocide and the location of Zone Turquoise.
|time = {{start date|1994|06|23|df=y}} – {{end date|1994|08|21|df=y}}
}}
{{Rwandan genocide}}
'''Opération Turquoise''' was a [[France|French]]-led military operation in [[Rwanda]] in 1994 under the mandate of the [[United Nations]]. The "multilateral" force consisted of 2,500 troops, 32 from [[Senegal]] and the rest French.<ref name=":0" /> The equipment included 100 [[armored personnel carrier|APC]]s, 10 [[helicopter]]s, a battery of 120&nbsp;mm [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]]s, 4 [[SEPECAT Jaguar|Jaguar fighter bombers]], 8 [[Dassault Mirage III|Mirage fighters]], and reconnaissance aircraft.<ref name=":1" /> The helicopters laid a trail of food, water and medicine enabling refugees to escape into eastern Zaire. Opération Turquoise is controversial for two reasons: accusations that it was an attempt to prop up the genocidal Hutu regime, and that its mandate undermined the [[UNAMIR]].

The charges raised against the French army during Operation Turquoise are of "complicity of genocide and/or complicity of crimes against humanity."  The victims allege that French soldiers did nothing to stop the genocide and let [[Interahamwe]] militias escape to Zaire after the massacres.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />  The former Rwandan ambassador to France and co-founder of the RPF [[Jacques Bihozagara]] testified, "Operation Turquoise was aimed only at protecting genocide perpetrators, because the genocide continued even within the Turquoise zone."  France has always denied any role in the killing.<ref name=":3" /> Around 2 million Rwandan refugees fled into Congo during the genocide, both Tutsis and Hutus. The presence of perpetrators of the genocide among them was one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the [[First Congo War]] in 1996.

== Background ==
{{Further|France and the Rwandan genocide}}
On 6 April 1994 Rwandan President [[Juvénal Habyarimana]] and [[Burundi]]an President [[Cyprien Ntaryamira]] were [[Assassination of Habyarimana and Ntaryamira|assassinated]], sparking the [[Rwandan genocide]] against the Tutsi. The [[United Nations]] already had a [[peacekeeping]] force, the [[United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda]] (UNAMIR), in [[Kigali]] that had been tasked with observing that the [[Arusha Accords (Rwanda)|Arusha Accords]] were being carried out. Following the start of the genocide and the murder of several kidnapped Belgian soldiers, [[Belgium]] withdrew its contribution to UNAMIR, which was commanded by [[Canadian]] [[Roméo Dallaire]]; Dallaire was prohibited from involving the force in the protection of civilians. By late April, several of the non-permanent members of the [[United Nations Security Council]] (UNSC) were trying to convince the major powers to agree to a UNAMIR II. As opposed to UNAMIR, which had a peacekeeping mandate under Chapter VI of the [[United Nations Charter|U.N. Charter]], UNAMIR II would be authorised under [[Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter|Chapter VII]] to enable the UN to prevent further harm.

The French had provided the [[Hutu]]-dominated Habyarimana government with extensive military, and diplomatic support, including a military intervention to save the government during an offensive by the rebel [[Tutsi]]-led [[Rwandan Patriotic Front]] (RPF) in 1990. Immediately after the genocide began, the RPF began [[Rwandan Civil War|another offensive]] to overthrow the genocidal government and steadily gained ground. By late June, the RPF controlled much of the country and was nearing a complete victory.  RPF units carried out retributive attacks within areas they controlled, but they were not of the scale and organization as those carried out in the genocide.

==Implementation==
[[File:French milouf DF-ST-99-05514.JPEG|thumb|French parachutists, part of the international military force supporting the Rwandan relief effort, stand guard at the airport.]]
On 19 June, the French government made an announcement of their intentions to organize, establish, and maintain a "safe zone" in the south-west of Rwanda.  At the brink of defeat and retreat, the news of an intervention from their allies was broadcast across the country by the genocidaires, with a consequent increase in their confidence, and the continuation of their hunt for genocide survivors.<ref>Dallaire, ''Shake Hands with the Devil'', p. 426.</ref> The French said the objectives of Opération Turquoise were:

{{quote |to maintain a presence pending the arrival of the expanded [[UNAMIR]]…  The objectives assigned to that force would be the same ones assigned to UNAMIR by the Security Council, i.e. contributing to the security and protection of [[displaced person]]s, [[refugee]]s and civilians in danger in Rwanda, by means including the establishment and maintenance, where possible, of safe humanitarian areas.<ref name=independent>{{citation | publisher = UWE | place = UK | url = http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/documents/RwandaReport3.htm | title = Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Actions of the UN during the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda | author = The [[United Nations]] Organisation | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060416080402/http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/documents/RwandaReport3.htm | archive-date = 2006-04-16 }}</ref>}}

On 20 June, France sent a draft resolution to the UNSC for authorization of Operation Turquoise under a two-month Chapter VII mandate. After two days of consultations and the personal approval of the [[United Nations Secretary-General|U.N. Secretary General]], it was adopted as [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 929|Resolution 929]] (1994), on 22 June, with 10 votes of approval and 5 abstentions. The "multilateral" force consisted of 2,500 troops, only 32 of them being from [[Senegal]] and the rest French.<ref name=":0">{{citation | publisher = Praeger| place = London| title = Peacekeeping Fiascoes of the 1990s| author = Frederick H. Fleitz Jr. |date=2002}}</ref> The equipment included 100 [[armored personnel carrier|APC]]s, 10 [[helicopter]]s, a battery of 120&nbsp;mm [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]]s, 4 [[SEPECAT Jaguar|Jaguar fighter bombers]], 8 [[Dassault Mirage III|Mirage fighters]], and reconnaissance aircraft.<ref name=":1">Caplan, Gerard, [http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/142 Pambazuka News 142: Rwanda Ten Years After the Genocide: Some Reminders of the International Response to the Crisis] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061218210600/http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/142 |date=2006-12-18 }}, Pambazuka News, 5 February 2004</ref> The helicopters were intended to lay a trail of food, water and medicine. The area that was selected ended up with the result that refugees were enabled to escape predominantly westward, into eastern Zaire. The zone affected by Operation Turquoise was changed after 2 members of a French reconnaissance unit were captured by the victorious [[Rwandan Patriotic Front|RPF]] rebels and were released in exchange for a revision in the area of Operation Turquoise.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sites.tufts.edu/jha/archives/123 |title=Operation Assurance: The Greatest Intervention That Never Happened &#124; The Journal of Humanitarian Assistance |publisher=Sites.tufts.edu |date=1998-02-15}}</ref>

There was an evacuation of the population westward, enforced by the Hutu regime, now set to flee from the Tutsi rebels, after it had been made clear the French were there to provide only a "safe zone", rather than assistance in the conflict.  Unfortunately, there were roadblocks and checkpoints along the way, and the Tutsis left alive, and even Hutus without ID cards, were killed.<ref>Dallaire, ''Shake Hands with the Devil'', p. 439.</ref> The outflow of refugees exacerbated the already great numbers of refugees in the region, known as the [[Great Lakes refugee crisis]] spilling out of Rwanda, and neighbouring Hutu-Tutsi Burundi, predominantly into Zaire. Approximately, 2.1 million people lived in Zaire in refugee camps. These camps contained the Rwandan state military (FAR) which led to the invasion of Zaire by Rwanda, [[Burundi]] and Uganda, known as the [[First Congo War]].

The area of French influence, known as '''Zone Turquoise''', within the [[Cyangugu]]-[[Kibuye, Rwanda|Kibuye]]-[[Gikongoro]] triangle, was spread across a fifth of the country.<ref name = slaughter>[https://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/1994/issue4/0494p4.asp  Rwanda: ‘Genocidal slaughter’ claims as many as 1 million — UN authorises ‘Operation Turquoise’ to protect displaced persons], UN Chronicle, Vol 4 (1994)</ref> Although it was meant to save lives and stop the mass killings, killings did occur. When the Hutu government moved the [[Radio Télévision Libre des Mille-Collines]] radio transmitter, a key tool in encouraging Hutus to kill their Tutsi neighbors, into the Zone Turquoise, the French did not seize it.  The radio broadcast from [[Gisenyi]], calling on "you Hutu girls to wash yourselves and put on a good dress to welcome our French allies. The Tutsi girls are all dead, so you have your chance."<ref>{{citation | first = Martin | last = Meredith | title = [[The State of Africa]] | chapter = 27 | publisher = The Free Press | place = London |   year = 2005}}</ref> The French did not detain the government officials they knew had helped coordinate the genocide.  When asked to explain that in the French parliament, the French foreign minister of the time argued that the UN mandate given to the French contained no authorization to investigate or arrest suspected war criminals.<ref>cf [http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/11/dossiers/rwanda/telechar/audition.zip], fichier auditio1.rtf, p.94</ref> Regardless, French President [[François Mitterrand]] claimed that the Operation had saved "tens of thousands of lives".<ref>Power, ''A Problem from Hell'', p. 380</ref>

The force left as the mandate of the operation expired on 21 August.  The RPF immediately occupied the region, causing another refugee outflow.

== Controversy ==
Opération Turquoise is controversial for two reasons: accusations that it was a failed attempt to prop up the genocidal Hutu regime and that its mandate undermined the UNAMIR.

The RPF, well aware that French assistance to the government had helped blunt their 1990 offensive, opposed the deployment of a French-led force. By early June, the RPF had managed to sweep through the eastern half of the country and move south and west, while besieging Kigali in the center. The advance resulted in a massive refugee outflow, though the Hutu government was also implicated in encouraging the flight (''see [[Great Lakes refugee crisis]].'') Regardless, the Zone Turquoise was created in the steadily shrinking areas out of RPF control. The RPF was one of many organisations that noted that the French initiative to safeguard the populace was occurring six weeks after it had become apparent mass killings were occurring in Rwanda. On 22 July, French Prime Minister [[Édouard Balladur]] addressed the Security Council, stating that France had a "moral duty" to act without delay and that "without swift action, the survival of an entire country was at stake and the stability of a region seriously compromised."<ref name=slaughter/>

In May 2006, the Paris  [[Court of Appeal (France)|Court of Appeal]] accepted six courtsuits deposed by victims of the genocide to magistrate Brigitte Reynaud.<ref>{{citation | url = http://www.defense.gouv.fr/sites/sga/enjeux_defense/droit_et_defense/justice_militaire/tribunal_aux_armees_de_paris | title = Tribunal aux Armées de Paris — TAP | publisher = Défense | place = FR | language = fr}}</ref>  The charges raised against the French army during Operation Turquoise from June to August 1994 are of "complicity of genocide and/or complicity of crimes against humanity."  The victims allege that French soldiers engaged in Operation Turquoise did nothing to stop the massacres and allowed [[Interahamwe]] militias to escape the country in the aftermath.<ref name=":2">"Validation des plaintes visant l'armée française au Rwanda."  Press Release.  Reuters.[http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=385921 Online posting.  ''Libération France''] 29 May 2006.</ref>  The former Rwandan ambassador to France and co-founder of the RPF [[Jacques Bihozagara]] testified, "Operation Turquoise was aimed only at protecting genocide perpetrators, because the genocide continued even within the Turquoise zone."  France has always denied any role in the killing.<ref name=":3">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6079428.stm "France accused on Rwanda killings"], ''[[BBC News]]'', 24 October 2006</ref>

UNAMIR Force Commander Dallaire had also opposed the deployment, having sent extensive communication back to U.N. Headquarters that the placement of two U.N.-authorised commands with different mandates and command structures into the same country was problematic.  Dallaire was also a strong proponent of strengthening UNAMIR and transitioning it to a Chapter VII mandate, rather than introducing a new organisation. Concern over conflicting mandates led to five countries on the UNSC to abstain in the vote approving the force.  The UN-sponsored "Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Actions of the UN during the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda" found it "unfortunate that the resources committed by France and other countries to Operation Turquoise could not instead have been put at the disposal of UNAMIR II." On 21 June, Dallaire replaced 42 UNAMIR peacekeepers from Francophone Congo, Senegal and [[Togo]] with UN staff from [[Kenya]] after the negative reaction of the RPF to Opération Turquoise. Over the two months of the mandate, there were confrontations, and risk of confrontations, between RPF and French-led units around the zone, during which UNAMIR was asked to convey messages between the two. The UN independent inquiry drily noted that this was "a role which must be considered awkward to say the least."<ref name=independent/>

==Notes on the text==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
*{{citation |last=Dallaire |first=R. |title=Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda |location=London |publisher=Arrow Books |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-09-947893-5 }}
*{{cite journal |last1=de Guillebon|first1=Hugues|title=Une saison en enfer: Opération Turquoise, 22 juin-22 août 1994, première partie|journal=Le Fana de l'Aviation|date=April 2023|issue=641|pages=50–61|issn=0757-4169 |language=fr|trans-title=A Season in Hell: Operation Turquoise, 22 June–22 August 1994, part 1}}
*{{cite journal |last1=de Guillebon|first1=Hugues|title=Une saison en enfer: Opération Turquoise, 22 juin-22 août 1994, deuxième partie|journal=Le Fana de l'Aviation |date=May 2023 |issue=642|pages=46–57|issn=0757-4169 |language=fr|trans-title=A Season in Hell: Operation Turquoise, 22 June–22 August 1994, part 2}}
*{{citation |last=Power |first=S. |title=A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide |location=New York |publisher=Harper Perennial |year=2004 |edition=1st |isbn=0-06-054164-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/problemfromhella00powe }}

==External links==
*[https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/ Human Rights Watch "Leave None to Tell the Story"]
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[[Category:Rwandan genocide]]
[[Category:Military operations involving France]]
[[Category:1994 in Rwanda]]