ABSTRACT
French politicians were desperately squirming in the Rwandese mess, trying to glorify the humanitarian functions of the intervention in the hope of washing any genocidal bloodspots off their hands. As the Rwandese genocide rolled on and as the world watched in passive horror, Paris decided to undertake a humanitarian intervention. A UN Resolution enabled Paris to intervene in Rwanda under a United Nations political umbrella, even though, for all practical purposes, France was acting alone. The basic, unforgivable, and original sin of the Rwandese Patriotic Front when it invaded Rwanda on 1 October 1990 was that it came from a former British colony and that its leadership was English speaking and English educated. Given the divided nature of French politics in the summer of 1994, the decision to launch what became known as Operation Turquoise was taken in a climate of mutual watchfulness.
