President Kagame during his meeting with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the International Conference on Sudan held in Paris on Monday, May 17. In a subsequent media interview, Kagame said Rwanda and France have made significant steps towards normalizing bilateral relations. Photo: Village Urugwiro

President Paul Kagame has said that Rwanda and France are on the path to restore friendly ties with a series of events taking place in that direction.

Kagame was speaking during a televised interview with French media outlets France 24 and RFI on the sidelines of twin summit meetings in Paris.

France is hosting meetings on helping Sudan in its new dispensation and another on providing Africa with critical financing needed to minimize Covid-19 effects.

The President said that the publication of reports by two independent commissions on France’s role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda was an important step towards the establishment of warm ties.

French historian Vincent Duclert in April officially handed over a report commissioned in 2019 by French President Emmanuel Macron to probe the then French government's role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

This report concluded that France bore a significant responsibility in the Genocide but fell short on exposing their complicity in the Genocide in which over a million people were killed.

In the same month, April 2021, The Muse Report was produced by a team of legal experts led by American jurist Robert F Muse from the Washington-based law firm Levy, Firestone Muse LLP.

The report showed that the French government was neither blind nor unconscious about the Genocide and provided unwavering support to the Genocidal government that was in power then.

On the basis of the insights, truth and clarity, Kagame said that there is an opportunity to create a good relationship between the two countries.

“There is convergence on what happened…I think France and Rwanda have a chance and good basis on which to create a good relationship as it should have been, the rest we can leave behind us,” he said.

On whether Rwanda would be seeking an apology from France, Kagame said that it was upon the European nation to decide what to do going forward noting that they will not be asked to apologize.

“That matter is upon France to decide what is best for them, the worst thing I can do is ask anybody to apologize, I leave it to them, that is when it comes out honestly, genuinely,” he said.

As the two countries resume ties, the President said further cooperation can be made in the arrest and bring to justice Genocide suspects and fugitives who reside in France.

Welcoming the arrest of Félicien Kabuga, Kagame said that going forward, the decision to bring them to justice lay with France, but added that Rwanda’s wish is for justice to prevail.

Also on the margins of the meeting on Monday, Kagame met and held talks with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.

https://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/kagame-speaks-out-rwanda-france-ties