Following the commemorations of the 30th anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsis in 1994 in Rwanda, President Paul Kagame held a press conference on Monday, April 8th, in the capital, Kigali. He responded to remarks made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who, in a video message, emphasized the need to “face the past,” without revisiting the statement transmitted by the presidency to the press, indicating that France “could have stopped the genocide.”
Even though he did not attend the events in Kigali on Sunday, April 7, French President Emmanuel Macron participated in the commemorations of the 30th anniversary of the Tutsi genocide via a video message. This message echoed his remarks made in the Rwandan capital on May 27, 2021, when he acknowledged France’s “overwhelming” responsibility for the genocide against the Tutsis. He reiterated the need to “face the past.”
However, Sunday’s communication made no mention of the statement transmitted by the Elysee to the press last Thursday.
On Thursday, April 4, the Elysee communication services sent a text to the media, which was supposed to reflect the content of the message that French President Emmanuel Macron would deliver during the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsis.
“The head of state will recall that France, which could have stopped the genocide with its allies, did not have the will to do so.” These are strong words that mark a further step in acknowledging French responsibility, and the media did not hesitate to give them wide coverage.
What happened? Can we speak of a real backtrack or just a communication error?
A source at the Elysee begins to invoke “overinterpretation” of his remarks two days later: indeed, Emmanuel Macron did not reiterate them in his video broadcast during the commemorations on Sunday, April 7th. He stated that he had “said everything” during his speech in Kigali in 2021: he had acknowledged the “responsibilities” of France in abandoning “hundreds of thousands of victims.”