Genocide? I deny the lot. Agathe Habyarimana interview - The Observer

Genocide? I deny the lot As Rwanda s first lady, Agathe Habyarimana was accused of plotting massacres. Now, she tells Alex Duval Smith in Paris, she is herself a misunderstood victim Sunday February 18, 2007 The Observer The woman regarded by many as an... More

Genocide? I deny the lot As Rwanda s first lady, Agathe Habyarimana was accused of plotting massacres. Now, she tells Alex Duval Smith in Paris, she is herself a misunderstood victim Sunday February 18, 2007 The Observer The woman regarded by many as an architect of genocide is on the verge of tears. Agathe Habyarimana has been driven to despair by a prosaic reality of everyday life in France. Stateless, without so much as an ID card to show at the post office, an alleged mastermind of the Rwandan massacres is living an administrative nightmare. I am so disappointed. I thought this was the land of asylum and human rights, she said after hearing on Thursday that, 13 years after France s military saved her life, its refugee officials have turned her down on appeal. In a rare interview granted to The Observer in her Paris lawyer s office, Habyarimana, 64, flanked by four of her sons, pre-empts questions : It s all lies. I deny the lot. Glued to her chair, her hands on her la Less