As part of efforts to restore the broken relationship between France and Rwanda following the 1994 genocide, French President, Emmanual Macron has arrived in Kigali to begin to mend that relationship.

Macron was welcomed by the Rwandan President, Paul Kagame in an official ceremony.

The Rwandan genocide which led to the death of close to a million Tutsis within a span of hundred days began due to the death of Juvenal Habyarimana, the president at the time, whose plane was shot down, he was unfortunately in the company of the Burundian president at the time.

The Tutsi, led by Kagame were blamed by a French judge for carrying out the attack, which he denied and claimed was carried out by Hutu extremists, who coincidentally belong to the same tribe as the fallen president. The masterminds behind the attack have not been ascertained to date.

Only survivors could give the gift of forgiveness – Emmanuel Macron

The result of that was a mass killing of the Tutsis who were a minority in Rwanda and their remains thrown into the river. Many Tutsis also fled to neighboring countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, and Burundi.

The killings continued until a breakdown in government ensued and the Rwandan Patriotic Front declared a ceasefire. The Hutu, noting that the RPF became victorious fled to DR Congo and continue to hold on to their bloodletting ways leading to chaos

During his visit, Macron will visit the site where the killings of close to 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus ethnic people occurred. Macron has accepted responsibility on behalf of France, on the role played in the genocide that occured in Rwanda in a statement.

“France did not understand that, while trying to prevent a regional conflict or a civil war, it was in fact standing by the side of a genocidal regime,” Macron said Thursday following a visit to the Gisozi memorial in the Rwandan capital Kigali.”By doing so, it endorsed an overwhelming responsibility,”

Emmanuel Macron, French President

Paul Kagame has also welcomed the development as a first step towards restoring the broken ties between the two nations. Read his statement below

“France and Rwanda are going to relate much better, to the benefit of both our people,” Kagame said, even if “the relationship between the two countries will never be entirely conventional. Macron’s words “were something more valuable than an apology: they were the truth. Politically and morally, this was an act of tremendous courage,” Kagame said.

Paul Kagame, Rwandan President