Sarkozy’s visit ushers in a new phase in Rwanda-France relations

The planned visit to Rwanda by President Nicolas Sarkozy on February 26 — the first of its kind by a French head of state since the 1994 genocide — is expected to boost ties between the two countries whose diplomatic relations have remained unstable for years.

Speaking to journalists in Kigali, President Paul Kagame confirmed that the visit was on and that it had “implications on how we carry forward this relationship (between France and Rwanda).”

However, there are worries that the sheer number of reports implicating the French for their “silent” role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide could get in the way of full restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

For instance, according to the Mucyo Commission, the French deliberately and systematically planned and trained the “Interahamwe” — the Hutu extremist militia — to annihilate Tutsis.

Its report implicates the late president Francois Mitterrand, his son Christophe, former foreign Minister Alain Juppe and former prime minister Dominique De Villepin among 30 French officials that Kigali believes should be brought to book.

A few months ago, Rwanda released yet another report, this time by Dr Jean Mutsinzi, which said the French could have tried to conceal evidence that would be helpful in finding who shot down a plane which killed then president Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi in April 1994.

The shooting down of the plane is believed to have sparked off the long planned genocide in which close to a million Rwandans, mainly Tutsi, perished.

The French have previously accused the leadership in Rwanda of genocide crimes.

In 2006 French judge Jean-Louis Bruguière, issued an indictment against President Paul Kagame and nine of his army commanders including the most prominent figure, Rose Kabuye.

Addressing the press a week ago, President Kagame said that the reports and the investigation have to be separated from the on-going efforts to restore full diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“This is a relationship which should be mutually beneficial,” he added.

President Kagame added that though the search for answers on what went wrong during the genocide could have an effect on the relationship, it wouldn’t affect the quality “but it can have an effect in terms of whether it allows you access to certain sources of information that you are interested in.”

Now that diplomatic ties have been renewed with both countries sending their respective envoys to each other, there is a general feeling in Rwanda that the continued failure by the French to own up and apologise for their failures could derail full restoration of Franco-Rwanda relations.

According to the French press, the stake in the rapprochement between the two countries is more cultural than economic.

Apparently, Rwanda’s choice to join the Commonwealth last year worries France.