President Paul Kagame on Tuesday met members of the Duclert Commission together with retired French military officers who served in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994, as the parties sought to address historically damaged relations between the two countries. The officers served in Rwanda a time when President Kagame led a liberation war against late President Juvenal Habyarimana’s French-backed regime, which is also pinned for planning and executing the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The meeting comes at a time when French historian Vincent Duclert, in March, handed a report to Kagame that linked France to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Persistent claims that France under then-President Francois Mitterrand was complicit in the atrocities have strained the Franco-Rwandan relationship for over two decades now. As part of the efforts to mend the ties, French President Emmanuel Macron in 2019 named a team of historians and researchers to look into archives of with view to probe France’s actions in Rwanda during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The commission’s work was to cover the period between 1990 and 1994. Although the report states that France bears overwhelming responsibilities for the genocide, it claims that there was no evidence Paris was complicit in the massacres that claimed over a million lives. It was however generally welcomed in Rwanda, including by some associations representing survivors of the Genocide. On the contrary, a different report released in April by Levy Firestone, Muse commissioned by the Government of Rwanda concluded that France was neither blind nor unconscious about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and that Mitterrand’s government provided unwavering support to the Genocidal government that was in power at the time. Both reports have been seen as a major breakthrough in the efforts by the two countries to address a difficult history that has plagued diplomatic and bilateral ties between Paris and Kigali. Relations are on a ‘mend’ Commenting about the Franco-Rwanda relations, President Kagame in an interview held on Monday with French media said that relations between the two countries are on a mend, citing President Macron’s leadership as a good ingredient. Regardless of the reports concluding that there was overwhelming responsibility by France, the head of state noted that he was not interested in demanding an apology from anyone but rather it is an opportunity for the two countries to reach an understanding on the historical facts and move on to the next chapter. President Kagame is in France since the beginning of this week to attend twin summits on Sudan and Financing African Economies, hosted by his French counterpart. During his visit, the head of state held a series of bilateral meetings with different leaders including Macron According to media reports from Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron, is expected to arrive in Kigali for a 2-day official visit next week. Activists who talked to The New Times described Macron’s visit as a sincere step towards mended relations.
