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KIGALI. – French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday admitted French responsibility in the Rwandan genocide during a visit to the Rwandan capital Kigali.
“Standing here today, with humility and respect, by your side, I have come to recognize our responsibilities,” Macron said in a speech at the Kigali Genocide Memorial where more than 250,000 Tutsi are buried.
He acknowledged France had been at fault but stopped short of an apology.
“France has a role, a history and a political responsibility in Rwanda. It has a duty: that of looking history in the face and recognising the suffering that it inflicted on the Rwandan people by favouring silence over the examination of truth for too long.”
“Apologise is not the appropriate term and I cannot grant forgiveness”, Macron said during a joint press conference with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame.
Relations deteriorated after the 1994 genocide and Macron is the first French leader to visit the country in ten years.
The French president said only Rwandans could forgive France for its role in the genocide: “On this path, only those who went through that night can perhaps forgive, give us the gift of forgiving.”
France did not listen to those who warned it about the impending massacre in Rwanda and stood de facto by a genocidal regime, Macron said.
But France “was not an accomplice” to the genocide, Macron added.
Jean Paul Kimonyo, a former aide to Kagame, said: “I think that speech was a very strong speech because he asked for forgiveness in a subtle manner but in a strong manner. It was subtle but substantively strong.”
Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who has accused France of responsibility in the genocide, earlier said they could “maybe not forget, but forgive” France for its role.
Rwanda has repeatedly accused France of being complicit in the 1994 genocide that killed around 800,000 people, mostly Tutsi Rwandans and moderate Hutus.
A report by a French panel released in March said French officials bore “serious and overwhelming” responsibility for not foreseeing the slaughter. It said that a colonial attitude had blinded French officials. The report absolved France of direct complicity in the killings.
President Kagame said the report “meant a lot” to Rwandans. In 1994, during the Rwandan civil war, then-president Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane was shot down, killing him.
This led to the genocide that lasted around 100 days.
“French officials armed, advised, trained, equipped and protected the Rwandan government,” said the French report.
Until now, France has denied a role in the killings. Macron has tried to rebuild relations with Rwanda since assuming power in 2017, culminating in this visit. The last French official visit to the country was when former president Nicolas Sarkozy visited in 2010.
The streets of Kigali bore no crowds welcoming the French president with flags, unlike the usual attention that high profile visits receive. After the visit, Macron is scheduled to visit South Africa. — DW.
Online Reporter