Rwandan President Paul Kagame commended France’s efforts to confront its role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi during the inauguration of a new memorial in Paris…reports Africa Daily News Desk
Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Tuesday hailed France’s efforts to acknowledge its role during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, describing the inauguration of a memorial in Paris as a significant step in preserving historical truth and strengthening ties between the two countries.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, Kagame said the memorial would serve as a lasting reminder of the genocide and honour the victims by safeguarding their history for future generations.
“The memorial before us is powerful because it sets the truth in stone and protects it from the heartlessness of time by instructing the living,” Kagame said. “It will stand as a mark of respect for the dignity of Rwandans and our history.”
Kagame began his remarks by paying tribute to genocide survivors, describing them as “living memorials” whose testimonies ensure that the events of 1994 remain within public memory.
The Rwandan leader also reflected on his own family’s experience as refugees following anti Tutsi violence in the 1960s, saying Rwanda had endured recurring cycles of tragedy before the genocide that claimed the lives of more than 800,000 people.
He praised the City of Paris for establishing the memorial and thanked both current mayor Emmanuel Grégoire and former mayor Anne Hidalgo for supporting the initiative.
A significant portion of Kagame’s speech focused on France’s historical role during the genocide and efforts in recent years to confront that legacy.
He commended French President Emmanuel Macron for what he described as courage and humanity in addressing the issue, recalling Macron’s 2021 visit to Kigali following the publication of independent reports examining France’s actions before and during the genocide.
Kagame noted that Macron had acknowledged that France could have acted to stop the genocide but failed to do so.
“In response, I described your words as something more valuable than an apology: namely, the truth,” Kagame said.
He also paid tribute to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose 2010 visit to Rwanda marked an earlier attempt to address France’s role, as well as French journalists, researchers and activists who worked to expose the facts surrounding the genocide.
While acknowledging that some survivors remain dissatisfied with aspects of the official historical record, Kagame said progress had been made.
“I believe that our common work has initiated a journey towards truth, which is irreversible,” he said.
Kagame stressed that responsibility for the genocide ultimately lay within Rwanda itself, although he said other actors had contributed to the tragedy.
“One certitude is that the main responsibility for the genocide is located within our own society, as Rwandans,” he said. “Others contributed, but we cannot blame them more than we do ourselves.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said the memorial would serve both as a place of remembrance and as a symbol of the future relationship between France and Rwanda.
In a message posted on social media following the ceremony, Macron said the memorial would help preserve memory, truth and justice while projecting the relationship between the two countries into the future.
The ceremony marked another milestone in the gradual rapprochement between France and Rwanda after years of strained relations over the genocide and France’s role during the events of 1994.
