French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday that he will visit Rwanda for the first time at the end of the month.
This trip is the latest sign of Rwanda and France renewing diplomatic links, and it may mark a turning point in relations that have been clouded by France’s involvement in the 1994 Tutsi genocide.
I can confirm that I will be travelling to Rwanda at the end of May, and that the focus will be on politics and remembrance, as well as economics, health and the future,” Emmanuel Macron said during a press conference during the Paris summit on the financing of African economies.
We are also keen with President Kagame to write a new page in the relationship, and to carry out highly structuring projects, in line with what we have just mentioned,” the French President added.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame met with some former French army officers who served in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994 just one day before making this announcement.
A change that is expected to exacerbate criticism of France’s involvement in the disaster, which was found to bear “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” in a recent study.
