“We would like to be able to go as far as recognizing complicity which would lead to reparations,” declares the co-founder of the Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda

“We would like to be able to go as far as recognizing complicity which would even lead to reparations,” declared, Friday March 5 on France Inter, Alain Gauthier, co-founder of the Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda (CPCR), after Emmanuel Macron’s remarks on Thursday. As the 30th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda approaches, the head of state declared that France “could have stopped the genocide” of 1994 in Rwanda “with its Western and African allies”, but “did not have the will”.

Remarks “totally right” for Alain Gauthier who recognizes that these words are “a small step forward” but who still believes that “it’s not sufficient”. “It may be courageous but we expect more”adds Alain Gauthier who does not want these words to be “simply a communication effect with regard to the Rwandan government”.

“Heavy and overwhelming responsibilities”

“To say that the international community and France in particular did not have the will to stop the genocide is something that we have known for a long time, he explains, since from the start, the Security Council reduced the number of UNAMIR soldiers quite drastically [Mission des Nations unies pour l’assistance au Rwanda]”.

According to him, Emmanuel Macron’s words are indeed “an additional milestone in the recognition of the heavy and overwhelming responsibilities that he has already recognized in 2021”. However, what the co-founder of the collective now wants is for the word complicity to be said: “We are going so far as to ask the French state to recognize this complicity, not of France, but of the politicians of 1994. I don’t see how we can dispense with that word.”