Macron seeks forgiveness over Rwanda genocide
… recognises France’s ‘responsibility’
KIGALI - French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday recognised his country’s role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, from backing a genocidal regime to ignoring warnings of the impending massacres.
“Standing here today, with humility and respect, by your side, I have come to recognise our responsibilities,” Macron said in a speech at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.
Macron is the first French leader since 2010 to visit the East African nation, which has long accused France of complicity in the killing of some 800 000 mostly Tutsi Rwandans.
Macron said France “was not complicit” in the genocide.
“But France has a role, a story and a political responsibility to Rwanda. She has a duty: to face history head-on and recognise the suffering she has inflicted on the Rwandan people by too long valuing silence over the examination of the truth”.
While some had been hoping for a full apology, Macron’s comments went further than his predecessors and he said that only those who had survived the horrors “can maybe forgive, give us the gift of forgiveness.”
In 2010 former French president Nicolas Sarkozy attempted to break the ice by admitting to “serious mistakes” and a “form of blindness” on the part of the French during the genocide.
His remarks fell short of expectations in Rwanda, and bilateral relations continued to fester.
However, ties have warmed under Macron, who has taken several steps to heal the wounds, including forming a commission led by historian Vincent Duclert into the role of France in the genocide.
The report accused Paris, which had close ties to the ethnic Hutu regime behind the massacres, of being “blind” to preparations for the genocide and said it bore “serious and overwhelming” responsibility.
The commission found no proof, however, of French complicity in the bloodshed.
A subsequent report commissioned by Kigali said the French government “bears significant responsibility” for enabling the genocide in Rwanda, yet refused to acknowledge its true role in the 1994 horror.
In an interview with the Jeune Afrique magazine, Rwanda president Paul Kagame said that despite the slight differences in conclusions by the two commissions, “these reports lay down a solid foundation to build a better relationship between our two countries”.
While Rwanda is often hailed as a success story for the comparative stability and economic growth achieved in the decades since the genocide, Kagame regularly comes under fire from rights groups for crushing dissent.
Kagame has been in power since the age of 36, when his Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) rebel army routed the genocidal forces and seized Kigali.
A 2015 constitutional amendment on term limits could allow him to potentially stay in office until 2034.
Two of Rwanda’s highest-profile opposition leaders on Tuesday accused Macron of ignoring political repression and rights abuses in their country.
“French President Emmanuel Macron does not hesitate publicly to bluntly castigate dictatorial regimes but keeps silent with regard to the authoritarian rule and human rights abuses by the Rwandan regime,” critics Victoire Ingabire and Bernard Ntaganda said in a statement.