France to shed light on its role in Rwandan genocide

Macron orders opening of state archives 25 years after massacre in which 800,000 were killed

PRESIDENT Emmanuel Macron has pledged to shed unprecedented light on France’s murky role in the Rwanda genocide, by opening the state archives 25 years after the start of the massacre. The gesture follows a quarter-century of tense relations with Rwanda over France’s stance before and during the genocide, in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered, many hacked to death with machetes.

Rwanda has accused France of backing the ethnic Hutu forces behind most of the killing in 1994 and of facilitating the escape of some of the perpetrators. Paris has long rejected such claims.

An eight-strong commission of historians and researchers “will be tasked with consulting all France’s archives relating to the genocide … in order to analyse the role and engagement of France during that period,” a statement from the presidency said.

The team will have access to classified documents from the foreign and defence ministries, as well as the DGSE, France’s external intelligence service, and reportedly the archives of François Mitterrand, the president at the time.

Yesterday’s announcement followed a meeting between Mr Macron and the Ibuka association of genocide survivors. The 41-year-old centrist has won plaudits among African leaders for eschewing France’s long-standing tradition of interference on the continent in a policy known as France-afrique.

During a visit to Paris last year, Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president, said the policy shift “makes a change from the neocolonial positions of the past”.

Last year, the president opened the archives on another opaque page in French history regarding the 1954-62 Algerian independence war.

Mr Macron will not be attending the commemorations in Rwanda this weekend, with Elysée sources telling the magazine Jeune Afrique that the ceremony was too close to European parliamentary elections.

Marcel Kabanda, the 62-year-old president of Ibuka France, whose family all died in the genocide, praised the creation of the commission as a “strong gesture”, but expressed caution.

“We have often been disappointed, we have often been betrayed,” he said.

Paris has staunchly denied complicity in the genocide, insisting that Unmandated French soldiers in Rwanda tried to avoid as much bloodshed as possible. But it has been accused of at the very least turning a blind eye.

Last month, Jean Varret, a retired general, said the country had failed to act despite clear signs the Hutu regime was preparing for genocide.

Mr Macron also pledged to increase judicial means to try suspects “in a reasonable amount of time”. Only three people have been convicted in France, despite victims’ groups claiming around 100 suspected perpetrators are living in the country.