Thirty years after genocide, France and Rwanda are slowly reconciling

It's been three decades since armed militias of Rwanda's Hutu ethnic majority murdered hundreds of thousands of the country's Tutsi minority in what is now widely regarded as one of the worst instances of sectarian violence of the 20th century. Not only has the Rwandan genocide irrevocably altered that nation's unique arc of history, but it has impacted countries across the globe as well. Questions of culpability and enablement stretch along colonial and globalized vectors worldwide, and perhaps nowhere are they felt more acutely than in France. 

In 2021, France acknowledged those questions, admitting that then-President François Mitterrand's support for the Hutu regime at the time amounted to a "heavy and overwhelming responsibility" for the genocide. While France was not itself "an accomplice" to the violence directly, President Emmanuel Macron said during a visit to Rwanda's capital Kigali that year, he nevertheless hoped that survivors of the atrocity might "give us the gift of forgiveness." France could have "stopped the genocide" but lacked "the will," Macron said in April in a video message commemorating the genocide's 30th anniversary. 

France's increasing willingness to address its role in the Rwandan genocide is not simply a matter of acknowledging history, however. It is also the start of a delicate and tentative reconciliation between two nations grappling with a complex and painful legacy. 

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'Perhaps the only major French diplomatic success'

Rwanda has "emerged as an exception" to continent-wide frustration with — and pushback on — France's long history of colonial influence and interference in Africa, The New York Times said. The celebration of "French culture, language and food" is part of an ongoing "détente, which is being championed by Rwanda's longtime leader, Paul Kagame." This is offering France a "much-needed security partner in Africa" while at the same time securing "millions of dollars in development and trade funds" for Rwanda. 

France's thawing relations with Rwanda represent "perhaps the only major French diplomatic success [on the continent] in recent years," said a former French diplomat to Le Monde.

The relationship between Rwanda and France "is good," Kagame said after Macron's video message. "It has been good in recent days." While there remain some who are "living politically in the past," the two nations will continue their progress on the "basis of people who want to look forward and move forward together."

The warming relations between France and Rwanda are not simply diplomatic, but economic as well. In 2019 Rwanda hosted French Development Agency head Rémy Rioux, "ending a 25-year absence" that paved the way for French development officials to "re-establish dialogue with Rwandan authorities," the agency said earlier this year. That dialogue resulted in a €500 million commitment from France to help Rwandan development by the end of 2023 which has "been not only achieved, but exceeded." In April, President Macron announced an additional €400 million investment in Rwanda's "environment, health and education sectors over the next five years as it aims to renew ties with Kigali," France 24 said. The investments have made France Rwanda's "second-largest bilateral donor behind the U.S.," Le Monde said.

'Further reckoning'

While relations between the two countries are undoubtedly moving forward, Paris is nevertheless "moving forward cautiously" given the broader anti-French sentiment across Africa, Le Monde said. At the same time, many in Rwanda "still perceive France as an integral part of the nation's dreadful past," with a level of distrust that "will be challenging to overcome for President Macron's desire to increase foreign relations," Kings College researcher Jonathan Beloff said in a 2023 article on French-Rwandan relations in The African Review.

While Macron's government has "issued partial apologies," there's been "nothing clear or systematic for the entire role of France in the genocide," said University of London International Politics Professor Phil Clark to Radio France Internationale. Accordingly, "both France's responsibility and the failure of the United Nations to stop the genocide need further reckoning," RFI said. Tensions around France's acknowledgment of its role in the genocide "surfaced during the 30th anniversary of the genocide in April," after Macron's taped statement, which "backpedaled on acknowledging France’s failure to halt the genocide," The Times said.

Kagame, however, appeared unphased. "I think the people of France, the reasonable people, we can work together," he said at a press conference after Macron's video. Sometimes the politicians are the ones that are the issue."