Macron visits Rwanda to mend diplomatic ties

By Samba Cyuzuzo

French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Rwanda in an attempt to reset relations that ruptured over accusations about the role of Paris in the 1994 genocide.

The visit follows the release in March of an official French report which said the then-government of Francois Mitterrand bore a "serious and overwhelming" responsibility for not foreseeing the killings.

The report, which has been welcomed in Kigali, did absolve France of direct complicity in the slaughter of more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame recently said that Rwandans could not forget but could perhaps forgive France for its role and signalled that relations between Paris and Kigali were on the mend.

Mr Macron is expected to visit and deliver a speech at the Kigali genocide memorial. He is also expected to appoint an ambassador to Kigali - the first in six years.

This article was originally published by BBC News. [Photo: AFP]