French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday, May 18, that he would go "to Rwanda at the end of May", and that he would "be keen" with President Paul Kagame "to write a new page of the relationship "between France and Rwanda.

This announcement comes the day after a statement by the Rwandan president saying that the two countries "now had a good foundation on which to create a good relationship", after the publication of a report by French historians concluding "overwhelming responsibilities" of Paris in the genocide of the Tutsi in 1994.

>> To see, our Interview with Paul Kagame: "The Duclert report on the 1994 genocide is a big step forward"

The French president's trip will focus on themes "both political, memorial but also economic and health", he told the press, after a summit on African economies where Paul Kagame was present. .

Asked about possible excuses that France could make, like Belgium a few years after the genocide, the French president refused to specify what he intended to declare to Rwandans.

"What I have to say there, I will say it then," he replied.

Monday, Paul Kagame had estimated in an interview with France 24 and RFI that the decision returned on this point in Paris, while stressing that he "would appreciate" the gesture.

>> To see, our Debate: "France-Rwanda: towards a normalization of relations?"

"I can live with" the conclusions of the report

The question of France's role before, during and after the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda has been a hot topic for years and even led to the breakdown of diplomatic relations between Paris and Kigali between 2006 and 2009.

In March, the Duclert report concluded on the "heavy and overwhelming responsibilities" and the "blindness" of the then socialist president, François Mitterrand, and his entourage in the face of the racist and genocidal drift of the Hutu government that was then supported. Paris.

>> To read also: "Genocide in Rwanda: a report by historians points to the 'overwhelming responsibilities' of France"

"I can put up with" the conclusions of the report, which dismissed France's "complicity", the Rwandan president commented on Monday.

The latter, who led the Tutsi rebellion in 1994 that put an end to the genocide, has long accused Paris of being "an accomplice".

The genocide killed more than 800,000 people, mainly within the Tutsi minority, between April and July 1994.

With AFP

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