With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

France denies asylum to Habyarimana widow, blaming her for genocide role

PARIS -- France rejected an asylum appeal from the widow of late Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana on Thursday, saying she was at the heart of the regime responsible for her country's 1994 genocide.

The French refugee agency originally rejected Agathe Habyarimana's request on Jan 4. The case went before the Appeals Commission for Refugees, which denied her appeal Thursday.

The decision came nearly three months after Rwanda cut off diplomatic relations with Paris over a French probe into Juvenal Habyarimana's mysterious assassination. The downing of his plane in 1994 sparked the slaughter of more than half a million people in less than 100 days.
Read entire article at AP