“The horror” of the French Army in Rwanda denounced in the film “The silence of words”
In the film “Le silence des mots” by producer Didacienne Nibagwire screened this Monday evening at the cinema la renaissance in Rabat, Rwandan women accuse the French Army of rape during the 1994 genocide. The synopsis of the film speaks of “horror, beyond imagining”. “The Silence of Words” screened this Monday evening at the cinema the renaissance of Rabat left the spectators between several states: silence, anger, protests and above all congratulations for the courage of the producer Didacienne Nibagwire and the women who testified. In this one-hour film, three mothers tell the camera about their daily lives during the genocide and in the refugee camps of Murambi and Nyarushishi. ‘They called us: ‘Tutsi! Tutsi!’ They took you out of the tent and did with you what they wanted’. The ‘they’, pronounced by the women, are the French soldiers of Operation Turquoise, who were under a UN mandate and who were responsible for protecting them. According to these women, they were repeatedly raped by French soldiers during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Rwandan producer Didacienne Nibagwire claimed the film was released on ARTE in April 2022. ‘It’s a story that people didn’t know. They do not know that these crimes have been committed. That’s why we made the film, we wanted people to talk about it, ‘she said. She underlined that a complaint was filed by these women in France but specified that things are not simple, especially since there are “many genocidaires who are in France”, she said. “We have village women facing an army, it’s complex,” she noted. According to Didacienne Nibagwire, ‘there was an association of the French Army which was in Rwanda which tried to deny the testimonies of the women but it was their word against those of the women’. ‘There are plenty of other trials like that of these women that are ongoing. It’s not easy but we remain confident,’ she expressed her optimism that light and justice will be shed on these issues.
Source: Burkina Information Agency