President Macron Says France And Its Allies ‘Could Have Stopped’ The 1994 Rwanda Genocide

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that France and its partners could have prevented the 1994 Rwanda genocide but lacked the will to do so in a powerful statement ahead of the African country’s 30th anniversary of the killing, which killed over 800,000 people.

The Presidents office announced in a statement that the French president would post a video on social media on Sunday when Rwanda commemorates the genocide.

President Macron Says France And Its Allies ‘Could Have Stopped’ The 1994 Rwanda Genocide

In the film, Macron claims that “France, which could have stopped the genocide with its Western and African allies, lacked the will to do so.”

During a visit to Central Africa in 2021, Macron acknowledged France’s “responsibility” in the genocide that killed over 800,000 people, primarily ethnic Tutsis and Hutus who attempted to protect them.

He did not apologize, but Rwandan President Paul Kagame hinted that a new chapter had begun in France-Rwanda relations following a series of French initiatives to heal ties between the two countries.

The Rwandan government has long charged France with “enabling” the genocide.

Since being elected in 2017, Macron has commissioned an investigation into France’s role before and during the genocide, as well as vowed to make the country’s archives from this period available to the public.

President Macron Says France And Its Allies ‘Could Have Stopped’ The 1994 Rwanda Genocide

Macron will highlight in Sunday’s video that when the genocide began, “the international community had the means to know and to take actions” based on the knowledge of genocides disclosed by survivors of the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust, according to his office.

Macron will underline that “France stands by Rwanda and the Rwandan people, in memory of the one million children, women, and men martyred because they were born Tutsi,” according to his office.

According to Macron’s office, Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné will represent France at the genocide remembrance on Sunday in Kigali. The French president is unable to attend due to World War II commemorations in France.

President Macron Says France And Its Allies ‘Could Have Stopped’ The 1994 Rwanda Genocide

In recent years, France has strengthened its efforts to apprehend and prosecute genocide suspects.

A Rwandan doctor was sentenced to 24 years in prison by a Paris court in December, marking the sixth case related to the Rwandan genocide to come before a French court in the last decade.

SOURCE – (AP)