Rwandan President Paul Kagame has praised French President Emmanuel Macron for showing “courage and humanity” in acknowledging France’s role in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
During the inauguration of a monument in Paris honouring victims of the genocide last week, Mr Kagame hailed Mr Macron for acknowledging that France failed to stop the killings when it should have done so.
The Rwandan president said taking responsibility for past actions requires “real” courage because of the backlash it could provoke from those implicated.
“President Macron, I want to commend you on both counts: courage and humanity,” Mr Kagame said at the event, which was also attended by Mr Macron. “You acknowledged that France could have stopped the genocide, but did not.”
Mr Kagame said Mr Macron’s acknowledgement of France’s role represented a “truth” that was more “valuable than an apology,” praising former French President Nicolas Sarkozy for “first opening the door” to that process.
The Rwandan president said the genocide against Tutsi, which lasted for more than 100 days between April and July 1994, was “foreseeable and, in fact, foreseen.”
He argued that, given its relationship with the Rwandan government at the time, France was in a position to act but failed to do so.
The president noted that it took too long for France to acknowledge its role, “causing additional pain” to survivors.
“And on some points, we still have not found consensus. I fully understand the feelings of those survivors and advocates who remain dissatisfied with the official record. But I believe that our common work has initiated a journey towards truth, which is irreversible,” he said.
Mr Kagame said several other countries also failed to respond to the genocide. However, he said France was ahead of others in “accepting its part in the tragedy.”
The genocide, led by extremist elements within the Hutu majority, targeted the Tutsi minority and resulted in the deaths of more than 800,000 people. More than two million Rwandans also fled the country during the violence.
France, an international ally of the then-Rwandan government, supplied military equipment, training, and political support for the East African country prior to the genocide.
After the killings began in 1994, France launched a United Nations-backed military intervention in Rwanda called “Operation Turquoise,” and it said it aimed to protect civilians.
However, there were allegations that France’s intervention came too late and helped shield some of the killers.
