KIGALI ā In a key speech on his visit to Rwanda, French President Emmanuel Macron said he recognizes 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.
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France āwas not an accompliceā in the genocide but ended up siding with Rwandaās āgenocidal regime" and bore an āoverwhelming responsibilityā in the slide toward the massacres, the French leader said, speaking Thursday at the genocide memorial in the capital, Kigali.
āFrance has a role, a history and a political responsibility in Rwanda. It has a duty: That of looking history in the face and recognizing the suffering that it inflicted on the Rwandan people by favoring silence over the examination of truth for too long,ā Macron said.
When the genocide started, āthe international community took close to three months, three interminable months, before reacting and we, all of us, abandoned hundreds of thousands of victims.ā
Franceās failures contributed to ā27 years of bitter distanceā between the two countries, he said.
āI have to come to recognize our responsibilities,ā Macron said.
Although Macron didnāt apologize, he won praise from Rwandan President Paul Kagame for his āpowerful speech.ā
āHis words were something more valuable than an apology, they were the truth,ā Kagame said. āThis was an act of tremendous courage.ā
Kagame and Macron both signaled that a page had been turned in France-Rwanda ties.
āThis visit is about the future, not the past,ā Kagame said, adding that he and Macron discussed a range of issues, including investment and support for businesses.
Macron said they were opening āa new pageā and rebuilding ties that are āstrong and irreversible.ā 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: āA genocide cannot be excused, one lives with it.ā
Instead, he explained that he decided to apply āthe white light of truthā to Franceās role in the genocide and recognize its responsibilities.
āThis recognition is what I can give. A pardon is not mine to give,ā Macron said, promising beefed-up efforts to bring genocide suspects to justice.
Macron also said that heād come with 100,000 coronavirus vaccines for Rwanda.
Rwandans who had hoped for an apology said they were disappointed by Macronās speech.
āWe donāt want to hear him talk about responsibility, about Franceās role in the genocide," genocide survivor Dan Karenzi told The Associated Press. "We, the survivors, wanted to hear Macron apologizing to us officially. I am really disappointed.ā
The opposition Rwandese Platform for Democracy party tweeted ahead of Macronās speech that it hoped he would āapologize honestlyā and āpromise to pay reparationsā to genocide victims.
Macron arrived in Kigali early Thursday and met Kagame at the presidential residence. Macron then toured the memorial to the frenzied 1994 slaughter in which Hutu extremists killed mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them.
Macronās trip builds on a series of French efforts since his election in 2017 to repair ties between the two countries.
Two reports completed in March and in April that examined Franceās role in the genocide helped clear a path for Macronās visit, the first by a French president in 11 years.
The previous visit, by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010, was the first by a French leader after the 1994 massacre sent relations into a tailspin. Rwandaās government and genocide survivor organizations often accused France of training and arming militias and former government troops who led the genocide.
Kagame, who has been Rwandaās de facto leader since 1994 and its president since 2000, has won praise abroad for restoring order and making advances in economic development and health care. But rights watchdogs, dissidents, and others accuse Kagame of harsh rule.
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Leicester contributed from Le Pecq, France.