Emmanuel Macron announces that he will go to Rwanda at the end of May to “write a new page”
This announcement comes the day after a statement by the Rwandan president saying that the two countries “now had good foundations on which to create a good relationship”.
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The French president’s trip will focus on themes “at the same time political, memorial but also economic and health”. Emmanuel Macron announced, Tuesday, May 18, that he would surrender “in Rwanda at the end of May”, and to have “to heart” with President Paul Kagame “to write a new page of the relationship” between France and Rwanda.
This announcement comes the day after a statement by the Rwandan president saying that the two countries had “now a good foundation on which to create a good relationship”, after a report by French historians concluding “overwhelming responsibilities” of Paris in the genocide of the Tutsi in 1994.
Asked about possible excuses that France could make, like Belgium a few years after the genocide, the French president refused to specify what he intended to declare to Rwandans. “What I have to say there, I will say it then”, he replied.
Monday, Paul Kagame estimated in an interview with France 24 and RFI that the decision came back on this point in Paris, while stressing that he “would appreciate” gesture.
The question of France’s role before, during and after the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda, has been a hot topic for years and even led to the breakdown of diplomatic relations between Paris and Kigali between 2006 and 2009.
