French President Emmanuel Macron and Rwandan President Paul Kagame unveiled a memorial to the victims of the Rwandan genocide in Paris on Tuesday. He also praised the “unprecedented” rapprochement of the two countries. According to AFP, the memorial on the banks of the Seine in the center of Paris is part of France’s efforts to recognize its role in one of the greatest horrors of the 20th century, reports TASR.
- Emmanuel Macron and Paul Kagame unveiled a genocide memorial in Paris.
- Macron described relations between Rwanda and France as unprecedentedly reconciled.
- In 2021, Macron admitted France’s disregard for genocide warnings.
- Paul Kagame praised the courage of France to admit its share of responsibility for the tragedy.
- The investigation showed French support for the Hutu regime despite the suspected impending genocide.
“There has been an unprecedented reconciliation between Rwanda and France,” Macron said at the ceremony, saying the new monument was “the culmination of a long and persistent search for the truth.”
France admitted responsibility
Already in 2021, in his speech during a visit to the Rwandan capital, Kigali, Macron admitted that France did not pay attention to warnings about impending massacres in this country. The French president said Paris, its Western and African allies did not have the will to stop the genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were murdered. However, he did not formally apologize at the time.
Kagame on Tuesday praised France’s efforts to take its share of responsibility and praised Macron for his courage and humanity. “France was not the only one that failed, far from it,” said Kagame, who has long accused the government in Paris of complicity in the massacres. “Many other countries have failed, but when it comes to setting the record straight and admitting their role in this tragedy, none have gone as far as France,” he said.
A monument as a reminder of a tragedy
The monument called “L’Archive” was designed by the Portuguese artist Grada Kilombová. It consists of two black brass steles and is engraved with tributes to the hundreds of thousands of men, women and children who were murdered between April and July 1994. “Here, as in an archive, rest the voices and words, the memories and experiences, the feelings and hopes of the victims,” it says.
The Rwandan genocide began on April 7, 1994, after the Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi militias, composed of ethnic Hutu, launched an ethnic cleansing of Tutsi and moderate Hutus. They were unleashed in response to the downing of Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana’s plane. Also on board was the president of neighboring Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira, both Hutu. The circumstances of the assassination were never clarified.
The West could intervene
Mass killings continued until July 4, 1994, when the predominantly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) captured the capital, Kigali. It was commanded by the then 36-year-old Kagame.
A 2022 investigation by the American law firm Levy Firestone Muse found that France suspected that a genocide was about to take place in Rwanda and supported the Hutu regime anyway. According to critics, the bloodshed “could have been stopped” along with allies in the West and in Africa, but they lacked the will to do so.
