EngRegional
Macron wants to restore Kigali-Paris relations after 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, but Paris must act
French President Emmanuel
Macron gives some hope for restoring better relations between Rwanda and
France, following decades of diplomatic rows between both countries because of
France’s role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
In 1994, François Mitterrand,
then France’s President, was a faithful supporter of Juvenal Habyarimana who,
for years, put Rwanda in chaos, insuring discrimination against the Tutsi, and
planning their extermination.
In Kigali, French soldiers
stood guard outside Amahoro Stadium where genocide was methodically
perpetrated.
In addition to providing arms
to Habyarimana’s genocidal forces, Mitterrand sent thousands of French troops
into Rwanda to train Interahamwe militia to carry out genocide nationwide.
But for many years, Paris
refused to acknowledge its role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, despite
well-documented evidence.
It was until Macron’s term
when France began to accept its overwhelming role in Rwanda’s dark history.
In a video message published
on April 7 to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi,
Macron emphasized that “when the phase of total extermination against the Tutsi
began, the international community had the means to know and act”.
Macron said France and its
Western and African allies “could have stopped” the 1994 Genocide against the
Tutsi in Rwanda, but did not have the will to halt the Genocide which claimed
lives of more than one million Tutsi.
The French president believes
that in 1994 the international community already had historical experience of
witnessing genocide with the Holocaust in the second world war, and the mass
killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during the first world war.
Macron reiterated the
importance of the duty of remembrance, but also of developing and disseminating
reference knowledge, in particular through the education of younger generations
in France.
During his visit to Kigali in
2021, Macron recognized France’s responsibilities in the 1994 Genocide against
the Tutsi in Rwanda; and said only the survivors could grant the gift of
forgiveness.
Macron set up a historical
commission led by Vincent Duclert, which concluded in 2021 that there had been
a failure on the part of France under Mitterrand.
However, France remains a safe
haven for 47 genocide fugitives, an indication of injustice for survivors of
the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Rwanda was happy with France
acknowledging its role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, but still needs
support from Paris in trying genocide suspects.
