Charles Onana is a genocide denier, a historical revisionist, and a conspirator. He introduces himself as an “investigative journalist and essayist”. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Lyon III University, a university with a history marked by racist and antisemitic controversies. The institution has long hosted professors from the far right, such as Bernard Lugan (who was called as an expert by Colonel Bagosora during his trial at the ICTR) and Bruno Gollnisch, a member of the National Front, the French far-right party.
In line with the denier of the genocide against the Tutsi, the journalist Pierre Péan, whose legacy he claims, he questions the existence of the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi and operates with several denialist theories, which are detailed below. He is a central figure in the denial networks, active in the French-speaking sphere, prolific in his writing and public appearances, and publishes his work in his own publishing house. He primarily collaborates with far-right media outlets such as Causeur et Valeurs Actuelles, as well as with mainstream media outlets historically denialist such as the BBC, Le Point and Marianne.
Categorized as a genocide denier by the journalist Christophe Ayad from Liberation, Onana lost both lawsuits he initiated in the criminal court and on appeal. In 2017, he was prosecuted by LICRA (International League Against Racism and Antisemitism) for denying the genocide against the Tutsi on LCI during the TV promotion of his book Rwanda, the Truth about Operation Turquoise. Since January 2022, he has also been under investigation for denying the genocide following legal action taken by Survie, FIDH and the League of Human Rights.
Charles Onana defends several denialist and conspiracy theories:
- The denial of facts: As early as 2005, he stated on RFI, “Ten years after the events, the International Tribunal has no evidence for a genocide committed by the Hutu against their Tutsi compatriots.” Later, in the same vein, he protested against “the false idea that the Tutsi were ‘victims of genocide’ in Rwanda in 1994 and that Tutsi rebels were the heroes of this tragedy.” He also wrote that “the conspiracy theory of a Hutu regime planning a ‘genocide’ in Rwanda is one of the greatest scams of the 20th Century,” “let’s be clear, the conflict and massacres in Rwanda have nothing to do with the genocide against the Jews!” “To continue pontifying about a hypothetical ‘genocide plan’ by the Hutu or a pseudo-rescue operation of the Tutsi by the RPF is a fraud, an imposture, and a falsification of history” (Rwanda, la verité sur l’Operation Turquoise)
- The strategy of manipulating numbers: “Who said that a vast majority of the victims are Tutsi?” was his question in a debate with the organization Survie in 2017. He claimed that millions of deaths were supposedly caused by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (which stopped the genocide in Rwanda) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a fabricated second genocide, aimed at erasing the first, which was very real. He also promotes the theorie that the April 6, 1994 attack should be attributed to the RPF, which serves both to erase the planned nature of the genocide against the Tutsi and invoke a sudden popular madness, as well as to accuse the RPF and the Tutsi, who were victims of genocide, through rhetorical manipulation.
- The denial of elements of complicity, particularly of the French Operation Turquoise, which provided a safe passage for the Rwandan genocidal forces and their propaganda tools, such as the Radio Télévision libre des Mille Collines, into Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), instead of the expected arrest of the masterminds of the genocide. As a result, he is loudly supported by the revisionist association of former French military personnel in Rwanda, France Turquoise, which refuses to accept any discussion of France’s responsibilities in the genocide.
In his book Ces tueurs tutsi, au coeur de la tragédie congolaise, (2009) (Those Tutsi Killers at the Heart of the Congolese Tragedy), prefaced by former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney, known for her antisemitic statements, he espouses the conspiracy theory of a quest for hegemony by Rwanda through the use of the “Tutsi woman”. He claims that “the main strategic plan for the conquest of the West is the Tutsi woman. It is their weapon of mass destruction. She destroys Belgian, German, American, British, French, Swiss diplomats, businessmen, and even the Hutu (…) They are homing missiles that can either be luxury prostitutes, secret agents, death squads that poison, or simply ordinary women. They use their charm to make Tutsism triumph (…). They are ‘swallows’, trained like cold monsters in underground and sometimes deadly missions.”
His last book Holocauste au Congo, l’omerta de la communauté internationale (“Holocaust in the Congo: The silence of the International Community”) in April 2023, was prefaced by Charles Millon. Millon was a former Franch Minister of Defense and Member of Parliament during the genocide against the Tutsi, who on May 18, 1994 made the following statement in Parliament: “Faced with the offensive of the Rwandan patriotic Front, the Rwandan government troops engaged in the systematic elimination of the Tutsi population, which subsequently led to the generalization of massacres…” By using the tactic of mirror accusation, shifting responsibilities, and negating the planning of the crime, he effectively aligns himself with the deniers.
Charles Onana persists in one of his fixed ideas that “the tragedy of Rwanda” – one of the many expressions he uses to avoid specifically mentioning the genocide against the Tutsi – was carefully orchestrated by the Tutsi and Anglo-Saxons to “install a leader capable of invading Congo and seizing its resources for the benefit of Western mining companies and Anglo-American private interests supported by certain Western leaders.” The genocide against the Tutsi is presented as a depoliticized “tragedy”, unplanned and serving a much darker purpose: the invasion and control of Congo, and more broadly, Central Africa, by “the Tutsi” to form a “Nilotic Empire.” These unfounded and conspirational claims not only distort history but also perpetuate harmful stereotypes and misinformation.
Throughout his book, Charles Onana disseminates the same ideological foundation that led to the genocide against the Tutsi, reminiscent of the creation of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” in the context of Hutu Power, which has spread throughout the Great Lakes region since the 1950’s. The book is written in a confusing and conspirational style, and denies the reality of the genocide, while lacking any scientific quality. In the chapter “The Anglo-American Military Deployment in Rwanda”, Onana relies on Eugene Rwamucyo as an authority to support his claims. Rwamucyo is a presumed genocidaire who is the subject of an international arrest warrant and is being prosecuted in France for genocide and crimes against humanity. Onana simply presents him as “a Rwandan, a doctor.” Furthermore, Onana constantly cites the most prominent genocide deniers and anti-Tutsi haters, such as Justin Bitakwira, Stephen Smith, Robert Gersony, Pierre Péan, and Bernard Debré.
Charles Onana exhibits affinity towards members of the ultra-violent Congolese armed group known as mai-mai, whom he claims, have a crucial mission to “defend themselves against Rwandans”. He uses scientific racism in lengthy tirades about populations who have migrated to the Kivu region decades ago. He firmly asserts the total illegitimacy of these populations who are Congolese. He also espouses antisemitic beliefs.