A French military team pushes bodies towards a mass grave at the Kimbumba refugee camp near Goma, Zaire, Aug. 1, 1994. Cholera and other diseases were killing thousands of Rwandan refugees who fled to Zaire to escape ethnic violence in their homeland.
AP Photo / Jacqueline Larma
Paris correspondent Sylvie Corbet, with contributions by Kampala, Uganda, correspondent Rodney Muhumuza and London-based deputy director of newsgathering Andy Drake, delivered an AP international exclusive interview with the Rwandan foreign minister and an early look at a much-awaited Rwandan study of France’s role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The report says the French government bears “significant” responsibility for “enabling a foreseeable genocide” in which an estimated 800,000 people were slaughtered.
Thanks to source building and past reporting on France’s efforts to come to terms with its role in the genocide, AP landed the interview that scooped even French national media. Corbet had earned the trust of researchers on the subject through her reporting on Rwanda-France relations, and notably on a previous study that found France had “overwhelming responsibility” for the genocide.
The lead researcher praised AP’s coverage and impact to Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame. As a result, the Rwandan government offered AP an international exclusive on their 600-page report and an interview with the foreign minister for text and video clients.
Nyabimana (first name unknown), 26, shows machete wounds at an International Committee of the Red Cross Hospital in Nyanza, some 35 miles southwest of Kigali, Rwanda June 4, 1994.
AP Photo / Jean-Marc Bouju