France tries to reset policy in Africa
It is asking forgiveness for its past and rethinking its future
F RANCE “MUST look history in the face and recognise the share of suffering that it inflicted on the Rwandan people”. So declared President Emmanuel Macron at the genocide memorial in Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, on May 27th (pictured). “In ignoring the warnings of the most clear-sighted observers,” he said, “France bore damning responsibility in a chain of events that led to the worst.” He hoped survivors of the genocide might “perhaps forgive” France.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Atonement”
Middle East & Africa June 5th 2021
From the June 5th 2021 edition
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