Paul Kagame in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), October 14, 2019. -
SIA KAMBOU / AFP
The Duclert report, on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, was welcomed this Wednesday by President Paul Kagame.
The Head of State considers that this is "an important step forward towards a common understanding of what happened".
This report submitted on March 27 to French President Emmanuel Macron “also marks a change, it shows a desire even among leaders in France to move forward with a good understanding of what happened.
We welcome that, ”added Paul Kagame in a speech during the genocide commemoration ceremonies.
“The important thing is to continue to work together to document the truth.
It is the truth ”, continued the Head of State.
France "blind"
"Rwanda will also have its say in the near future, perhaps during the third week of this month," he said, referring to a report on the subject conducted by a Rwandan commission.
"The conclusions (of this report) point in the same direction", affirmed Paul Kagame, who was at the time of the genocide the leader of the Tutsi rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) which fought the extremist Hutu regime.
The French report, directed by the historian Vincent Duclert, is damning for the French authorities of the time: if "nothing comes to show" that it was complicit in the genocide, France bears "heavy and overwhelming responsibilities In the tragedy, in particular by being "blind to the preparation" of the genocide.
On Wednesday, France announced the opening of important archives on Rwanda to advance the "historical truth" on the genocide of the Tutsi in 1994. When submitting the Duclert report, Emmanuel Macron had indicated that he hoped for an "irreversible" rapprochement with Kigali.
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