French President Emmanuel Macron believes that France “could have stopped the 1994 genocide” in Rwanda “with its Western and African allies”, but “did not have the will”, the Elysée reported on Thursday ahead of the 30th anniversary of the start of the massacres. Emmanuel Macron, who had already recognized in 2021 France’s “responsibilities” in the genocide, will speak on Sunday “through a video which will be published on his social networks”, his entourage told AFP.
Macron recognized in 2021 “France’s responsibility in the genocide”
“The Head of State will recall in particular that, when the phase of total extermination against the Tutsi began, the international community had the means to know and act, through its knowledge of the genocides revealed to us by the survivors of the Armenians. and the Shoah, and that France, which could have stopped the genocide with its Western and African allies, did not have the will,” added the presidency.
“On May 27, 2021, the President of the Republic recognized, in Kigali, the responsibility of France in the genocide of the Tutsi, established by the commission of historians and researchers led by Professor Vincent Duclert on the role and France’s commitment to Rwanda”, the Elysée further explained.
“France stands alongside Rwanda”
“This April 7, 2024, the Head of State will reaffirm that France stands alongside Rwanda, the Rwandan people, in memory of a million children, women and men martyred because they were born Tutsi. He will reiterate the importance of the duty of memory but also of the development of reference knowledge and its dissemination, in particular through the education of younger generations in France”, he continued.
Invited by Rwandan President Paul Kagame to the commemorations of the 30th anniversary of the genocide on Sunday, Emmanuel Macron will not attend, and will be represented by his Minister of Foreign Affairs Stéphane Séjourné and the Secretary of State for the Sea Hervé Berville, born in Rwanda.