PARIS. “This visit is the final step in the normalization of relations between our countries”. He said it Emmanuel Macron on the first day of his visit to Rwanda, on the sidelines of the visit to the memorial of the 1994 massacre, underlining that he went to the African country to acknowledge France’s “responsibility” in the genocide. The president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, reacted satisfied to the speech of the French president: “More important than an apology”.
This is perhaps the most important overseas trip he makes Emmanuel Macron since he was president. The French leader arrives in Rwanda twenty-seven years after the genocide of the Tutsis by that Hutu regime that France “blindly” supported, as the historian recently pointed out. Vincent Duclerc. In his report delivered to the Elysée a few months ago, Duclerc speaks of “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” of the then government of Paris under the leadership of the socialist president François Mitterrand. A severe judgment never pronounced at the top of the state even if, the conclusions of the text specify, France cannot be accused of “complicity” in the massacre of over 800 thousand Tutsis.
The work of the historian requested by Macron was the first step in the search for a reconciliation that had already in part already begun under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy. The head of state will make the symbolic trip today, delivering a speech in front of the memorial of the genocide. It should not present an official apology, as many Rwandans ask, but reiterate the faults of the time. Every word, every sentence will be scrutinized by the Rwandans but also by the French who have always been divided on the idea of official “regrets” about the darkest pages of their history. One of the best known examples is in Algeria where even today the faults and responsibilities are not seen in the same way by everyone.
The French head of state has solid relations with the Rwandan leader Paul Kagame and should announce the return of a new ambassador to Kigali. The trip to Rwanda is also part of all of Macron’s efforts to recover lost French influence in Africa at a time when military engagement in the Sahel faces new political instability in Mali and Chad, and with the new powers of the region – China and Russia – which move their pawns on the continent.
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