Former UN soldier to testify at French genocide probe

Colonel Walter Ballis, a former officer with the UN mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) during the 1994 genocide, is to testify next week before a seven-member Rwandan commission looking into the alleged role of France in the 100-day frenzy of killing in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died, the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reported Wednesday.

The report quoted the commission, led by former justice minister Jean de Dieu Mucyo, as saying that the former Belgian UN officer, who was part of the peacekeeping mission in Rwanda that looked on as thousands of Tutsis were massacred, would be in Rwanda by the weekend ready to testify on Monday.

Ballis was part of the Belgian contingent attached directly to the then general force commander Canadian Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire.

In that position, Ballis was essentially in charge of organizing security for political figures. He was later to be pulled out along with the entire Belgian force after 10 members were murdered on April 9, 1994.

Ballis is among about 5 foreigners planned to give evidence incriminating France in the massacres that left over a million innocent live destroyed in Rwanda during the 100 days of mayhem in 1994.

For the last 13 years, the Kigali government has repeatedly accused Paris of abetting the genocide, but France has denied having had a hand in the horrible slaughter.

Source: Xinhua