Macron Visits Rwanda to Reset Relations After Genocide Report

(Bloomberg) -- President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Rwanda to renew diplomatic ties following years of strained relations over the role of France in the East African nation’s 1994 genocide that left at least 800,000 people dead.

Together we will write a new page in our relationship with Rwanda and Africa, Macron said in a tweet on Thursday as he left for Kigali, where he will meet with Rwandan President Paul Kagame. The two are scheduled to hold a joint press briefing.

Macron is the second French President to visit Rwanda after Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010. Last month, law firm Levy Firestone Muse LLP released a report saying France bears significant responsibility for the genocide because it helped facilitate the massacre by arming, advising, and protecting the Rwandan government at the time. A Macron-backed panel earlier absolved France but found the country’s colonial attitude had impeded its judgment in the build up to the killings.

The move to mend relations with Rwanda is part of a broader effort by Macron to address criticism of France’s history in Africa, where it governed countries including Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mali and Algeria. He has supported West African efforts to split from the French-backed regional currency, and the return of African relics and artifacts taken during the colonial era.

Macron has also supported French businesses seeking opportunities beyond French-speaking West Africa. That’s emboldened companies such as Total SE, Vinci SA and Orange SA to increase investment or sign new deals in Uganda, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

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