Macron admits some guilt for genocide

KIGALI (AP):

In a key speech on his visit to Rwanda, French President Emmanuel Macron said he recognises that France bears a heavy responsibility for the 1994 genocide in the central African country.

Macron solemnly detailed how France had failed the 800,000 victims of the genocide but he stopped short of an apology.

France “was not an accomplice” in the genocide but ended up siding with Rwanda’s “genocidal regime” and bore an “overwhelming responsibility” in the slide towards the massacres, the French leader said, speaking Thursday at the genocide memorial in the capital, Kigali.

“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,” Macron said.

When the genocide started, “the international community took close to three months, three interminable months, before reacting and we, all of us, abandoned hundreds of thousands of victims”.

France’s failures contributed to “27 years of bitter distance” between the two countries, he said.

“I have to come to recognise our responsibilities,” Macron said.

Although Macron didn’t apologise, he won praise from Rwandan President Paul Kagame for his “powerful speech”.

“His words were something more valuable than an apology, they were the truth,” Kagame said. “This was an act of tremendous courage.”

Kagame and Macron both signalled that a page had been turned in France-Rwanda ties.

“This visit is about the future, not the past,” Kagame said, adding that he and Macron discussed a range of issues, including investment and support for businesses.

Macron said they were opening “a new page” and rebuilding ties that are “strong and irreversible”. He said that he asked to be able to appoint a French ambassador to Rwanda, after six years where France has been without one in the country.

Appearing to explain his lack of apology, Macron said: “A genocide cannot be excused, one lives with it.”

Instead, he explained that he decided to apply “the white light of truth” to France’s role in the genocide and recognise its responsibilities.

“This recognition is what I can give. A pardon is not mine to give,” Macron said, promising beefed-up efforts to bring genocide suspects to justice.

Rwandans who had hoped for an apology said they were disappointed by Macron’s speech.

“We don’t want to hear him talk about responsibility, about France’s role in the genocide,” genocide survivor Dan Karenzi told The Associated Press. “We, the survivors, wanted to hear Macron apologising to us officially. I am really disappointed.”