In what’s probably the strongest admission yet of France’s role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, President Emmanuel Macron has accepted his country’s fault in the genocide and sought forgiveness of the East African nation.
Macron, speaking in a memorial held in Kigali said France, in its bid to prevent a civil war in 1994, stood behind a regime that was fanning the embers of violence.
He said “France did not understand that, while trying to prevent a regional conflict, or a civil war, it was in fact standing by the side of a genocidal regime,”
“By doing so, it endorsed an overwhelming responsibility,”
Although the President asked for forgiveness, he didn’t apologise in a clearcut manner.
President of survivors association Ibuka France Etienne Nsanzimana said that, “although survivors wanted clear apologies,” Macron had “asked for forgiveness in other words” in a moment survivors had long waited for.
Macron’s admission follows the French government-sponsored Duclert’s report which fingered France’s role as a major player in the genocide as accused by Rwandans.
France’s presence in Kigali’s Gisozi memorial is part of the country’s efforts to improve its relationship with Rwanda, years after the first steps were made in 2011.
Rwandan President, Paul Kagame has said relationship will France will be worked on, to improve the lives of people in the country but added that the ties will never be entirely conventional.
France seeks to improve ties with several African nations as Macron also visited Uganda, which also played an active role in the 1994 genocide. The EU giant’s quest for renewed African partnerships is coming on the back of the financing summit which held in France some days ago.
Critics have warned that France’s presence is another attempt to renew colonial ties with African nations and is a pretense on the stifling activities of the countries in its African colonies.