France: Rwanda genocide memorial unveiled in Paris

On 3 June, French President Emmanuel Macron and Rwandan president Paul Kagame inaugurated a memorial in Paris dedicated to the victims of the Rwanda genocide, as France continues efforts to address its role in one of the twentieth century’s worst humanitarian atrocities, according to AfricaNews.

The Paris monument honours the estimated 800,000 victims killed during the 1994 Rwanda genocide and forms part of France’s efforts to confront its historical role.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, Macron described the monument as the result of a long search for truth and reconciliation.

“In a world where empires sometimes have the temptation to falsify history, in this moment also where the past is a battlefield, telling the truth is more necessary than ever. This is the condition for peace,” he said at the event.

The memorial, known as “The Archive”, stands on the banks of the Seine in Central Paris. Created by Berlin-based Portuguese artist Grada Kilomba, it consists of two black steles commemorating those killed during the genocide. An inscription on the monument pays tribute to an estimated 800,000 men, women and children, most of them ethnic Tutsis, who were massacred between April and July 1994.

Kagame used the ceremony to acknowledge France’s recent efforts to confront its historical involvement while noting that disagreements remain over some aspects of the country’s role.

“France was in a unique position to observe and to act. It took too long for France to come to terms with its role causing additional pain and on some points we still have not found consensus,” Kagame said. However, he continued, adding that no country had done as much as France to recognise its part in the tragedy and clarify the historical record.

The genocide began after the plane carrying then-president Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down on 6 April 1994. Following the attack, extremist Hutu groups launched a campaign of mass killings against the Tutsi minority and those perceived to support them, aided by members of the army, police and militia groups.

The Paris memorial forms part of a broader process of reconciliation between France and Rwanda. In a landmark speech delivered in Kigali in 2021, Macron acknowledged France’s failure to respond adequately to warnings that mass killings were imminent.

Africanews, maghrebi.org