Citation
The first edition of the book Que Sais-je by Filip Reyntjens concerning the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi of Rwanda aroused from the moment of its publication the indignation of an impressive list of historians and experts, their concerns expressed in a letter published in Le Monde on September 25, 2017 (1).
A second edition of the book was published on August 18 this year, and with only minor and superficial changes to the text, it was clear that the criticisms made of the first edition had no impact on the publisher.
We are surprised that a publisher whose aim is to bring knowledge to all chose to ignore the concerns of recognised historians and republish theories that ignore the fundamental characteristics of the genocide against the Tutsi.
In so doing, the French publishing house Humensis has not only contributed to popularising obsolete historical ideas but has provided much-needed validation to an author who defends revisionist theories about the last genocide of the 20th century.
An almost non-existent up-date
This new edition fails to account for the criticisms made in 2017. Filip Reyntjens, who is happy to remind us that history needs constant revision through debate, has clearly not applied this principle in his own work and has chosen to ignore anything he disagrees with.
Once again, he persists in reversing the order of responsibility for the genocide and supports - against all intellectual and historical reasoning - the absence of any genocide planning.
Denying the planning of genocide
Repeating the arguments popular with the perpetrators Filip Reyntjens denies any planning of the genocide of the Tutsi and supports the idea that it was the result of popular anger sparked by the assassination of the President Habyarimana and fuelled by the fear of the Tutsi population.
The denial of any planning of the genocide by Filip Reyntjens, substantiated with limited and selective sources, is even more shocking given the fact that in 1995 he had declared under oath to the Belgian judicial authorities: “However, I do know from numerous and reliable sources that a genocidal project and political massacres existed for a long time and the first signs of this were evident from 1991” (2).
Political Firebrand
Engaged in a media war against the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) since 1990 3 to the detriment of the objectivity of his work, Filip Reyntjens revives some nauseating theories, these assigning responsibility for the genocide against the Tutsi to the RPF from October 1990. The RPF “could not have been unaware that the attack would gravely imperil Tutsi inside the country”, he writes in efforts to excuse the executioners and blame the victims of the genocide for their own demise.
Not content with attributing the responsibility of the genocide to the RPF, Filip Reyntjens omits any reference in his analyse to the dismissal by French justice in December 2018 in the case against the RPF for the assassination that cost the life of President Habyarimana (4).
Despite this decision and the evidence provided by ballistic and acoustic experts that the missiles fired at the presidential jet came from the military camp at Kanombe controlled by Hutu extremists, Filip Reyntjens rejects this idea in favour of a “body of evidence pointing to the RPF as responsible for the assassination”.
The compass that refuses to point north
While we gave the benefit of the doubt when the first edition was published, believing that this faulty compass would be repaired it seems that a deliberate choice has been made not to do so. In choosing to ignore the impressive list of historians and experts and in republishing the theories of a “researcher-activist” 5who more than once has expressed ideas akin to negationism, the publisher of Que Sais-je cannot claim either ignorance or plead negligence. 6 The compass really is unable to point north.
While in France the recently published report of historian Vincent Duclert has put an end to 27 years of denial regarding the responsibility of France in the genocide of the Tutsi, it appears that the publishers of Que Sais-je, have decided to republish revisionist material.
Messieurs Frédéric Mériot et Julien Brocard (7) - the history of the genocide of the Tutsi, the million victims and the survivors are worth more than your contempt. And your readers deserve better.
(1) https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2017/09/25/rwanda-le-que-sais-je-qui-fait-basculer-l-histoire_5190733_3232.html
(2) http://www.francegenocidetutsi.org/doc56872.pdf
(3) Filip Reyntjens, Les risques du métier, L’Harmattan, 2009, Paris. p.25. “In the discussions I associated myself with an initiative of the regime that was trying to gain the upper hand in a media war it was losing with the RPF. In early November I contacted Fabien Singaye who was a diplomat at the Rwandan embassy in Bern”.
(4) Filip Reyntjens, Que Sais-je, Le génocide des Tutsi au Rwanda, Second edition, page 34.
(5) Filip Reyntjens (2009), Les risques du métier, Paris, Editions L’Harmattan.
(6) https://twitter.com/freyntje/status/977197186307055616 « #Rwanda I have long thought that @rpfinkotanyi committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in 1994, not #genocide. Book by @JudiRever shows irrefutably they did commit genocide. So, yes, double genocide happened. ».
(7) Frédéric Mériot is the CEO du groupe Humensis, Julien Brocard is the editorial director of the collection Que Sais-je.
