The accusation against France by the country’s top leadership of a direct role in the genocide, came as a surprise to many watchers of the country.

Over the past few years, the assumption has been that the two countries were on the road to permanently mending fences. Indeed, many have been scratching their heads to make sense of the latest recrimination. Seemingly, Rwanda is not willing to let bygones be bygones.

French political elites, those currently in power and those who left office, have taken deep offence at comments by President Paul Kagame.

Alain Juppe, the former French foreign minister indicated that France’s honour had been wounded, and called on President Hollande to take action.

France elites, who have for long held sway in Francophone Africa, are not accustomed to being told off by African leaders. They expect leaders of parts of their sphere of influence, or what used to be, to defer to the French establishment, speak good French and adopt French mannerisms and tastes.

Yet, in Kigali, there seems to be a leadership that has failed to reconcile itself with France and its ways in Africa. It may only take a change of administration in Kigali if France is to ever again have the kind of influence and respect it once exercised here.

The position taken by Kigali authorities is that historical facts have to be stated as they are and recorded for posterity. However, some would suggest that good relations with France, would necessitate burying the hatchet and moving on as if nothing happened, or just to acknowledge the past and leave it at that.

Besides, the French leaders maintain that they had no direct role in the genocide, and can only be blamed for not taking serious action, like the rest of the world, to stop the genocide.

From as early as 1991, the RPF leadership complained of France’s support for the Habyarimana government. The Kigali leadership has never forgotten the humiliation that the French sought to visit on their leaders when they went to France in the early days of the struggle.

More so, cables from the US state department, now available to the public, indicate that RPF representatives had, in July 1992, complained to the US embassy political officer in Kampala that France was using the war in Rwanda to test new weapons like the 105mm long range rocket launcher.

So, early in the struggle, RPF had already determined its allies and enemies in the international system. And the situation seems unchanged more than two decades later.

Evidently, the issue between Rwanda and France is politics. There has not been an impartial process to translate the allegations against France into criminal responsibility, resulting in no accountability from the country’s officials.

The only mechanism that was geared towards that direction was the Mucyo Commision that named several political and military players in France. The commission did not receive a positive reception internationally, and was seen as politically motivated; little has been heard of it since.

Going forward, if Rwanda’s leaders are firmly convinced that France, the Catholic church and Belgium played an active role in the genocide, what is going to be done about it?

And what are those French officials, many still holding significant influence in the international system, going to do about something they consider an affront to their honour?

There is not much that Rwanda can do to bring to trial those in France they believe played an active role in the genocide. But on the other hand, from the experience of the Bruguerre indictments, we see that French officialdom can continue to inconvenience some people in the Kigali administration. They can curtail their international travels and even possibly render support to the opposition.

Frank Kagabo is an Erasmus Mundus graduate student of journalism, media and globalisation at Aarhus University, Denmark, and Swansea University, the UK, specialising in war and conflict reporting. E-mail: [email protected]; Twitter: @kagabo