Emmanuel Macron believes that “France, which could have stopped the genocide with its Western and African allies, did not have the will,” reported the Elysée Palace on Thursday, April 4th, 2024, three days before the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the massacres.
The French president, who had already acknowledged in 2021 the “responsibility” of France in the genocide, will address the issue on Sunday, April 7th, “through a video to be published on his social media platforms,” his entourage affirmed.
According to Emmanuel Macron, France, which “could have stopped the genocide with its Western and African allies, did not have the will,” reported the Elysée Palace on Thursday, as Rwanda prepares to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis over 100 days. The massacres began on April 7, 1994, and resulted in between 800,000 and one million deaths.
The French president, who had already acknowledged in 2021 the “responsibility” of his country in the genocide, will speak on Sunday “through a video to be published on his social media platforms,” a source at the Elysée added.
“The head of state will notably recall that when the phase of total extermination against the Tutsis began, the international community had the means to know and to act, through its knowledge of the genocides revealed to us by survivors of the Armenians and the Holocaust, and that France, which could have stopped the genocide with its Western and African allies, lacked the will,” the same source specified.
Invited to the commemorations by Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Emmanuel Macron will not attend. He will be represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, and by the Secretary of State for the Sea, Hervé Berville.