French presidency bungles Macron’s Rwanda genocide comments

PARIS  — French President Emmanuel Macron was expected to go a step further in acknowledging France’s role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, and say that Paris “did not have the will” and “could have stopped” the killings.

But in his message aimed at marking the 30th anniversary of the horrific events, Macron steered clear, instead reiterating his previous position on France’s involvement.

The French president said that “I think I said everything on the 27 May 2021 when I was with you” in a video message aired on French and Rwandan television, with reference to a landmark speech in which Macron acknowledged France’s responsibility in Rwanda but said France was not an accomplice in the massacre.

“I don’t have anything to add nor to remove from what I said,” Macron added in the pre-recorded video that aired Sunday about the “moment so important and so cruel” of Rwanda’s history.

In 1994, extremists from the Hutu ethnic group launched a killing spree against the Tutsi minority and Hutu moderates, killing around 800,000 people in the landlocked eastern African country.

A 2021 report, led by French historians, found that France bears “heavy and overwhelming responsibility” in what happened, and had been “blind” to genocide preparations. Paris, under President François Mitterrand, supported the Hutu leaders at the time.

Macron’s words fall short of what the French presidency briefed journalists last week on outlining the forthcoming message to Rwanda. In notes seen by POLITICO, Macron was expected to go a step further in recognizing France’s failures to stop the genocide.

“The head of state will remind all that … the international community had the means to know and act … and that France, which could have stopped the genocide with its Western and African allies, did not have the will to do so,” the statement said.

A press officer for the Elysee Palace on Monday told POLITICO there had been “a bungle at the communications team.”

“There is no new step from the president” in recognizing France’s responsibility in the genocide, “all that matters is what the president said Sunday,” the aide added.

However, according to Le Monde, an initial version of the video with a different message had been prepared ahead of the commemorations.

The haphazard messaging from the Elysée Palace has also drawn fire from the Institut François-Mitterrand which has asked the French presidency to “lift the ambiguity” on Macron’s stance on France’s responsibility in the genocide.

The French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Stephane Sejourné, and the Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Vincent Biruta after signing a development partnership agreement on April 06, 2024 in Kigali, Rwanda. | Luke Dray/Getty Images

“What could France have done better? Does [the president] deliberately ignore the fact that François Mitterrand … launched a humanitarian operation aimed at saving lives,” said former Socialist minister Jean Glavany, according to AFP.

Macron was invited to attend the commemorations in the Rwandan capital, but was instead represented by his Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné and Junior Minister for Maritime Affairs Hervé Berville.