May 28, 2021

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said only Rwandans could forgive France for its role in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

“On this path, only those who went through that night can perhaps forgive, give us the gift of forgiving,” Macron said in a speech at the genocide memorial of Gisozi in Kigali, where more than 250,000 Tutsi are buried.

“I hereby humbly and with respect stand by your side today, I come to recognise the extent of our responsibilities.”

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.

President Paul Kagame said, “His words were something more valuable than an apology. They were the truth.” He called it “an act of tremendous courage”.

In March, a French expert commission found that France under the late President François Mitterrand had borne “heavy and overwhelming responsibility” for the genocide but had not been complicit. The report said France had been “blind” to genocide preparations.

REUTERS