France

France to open Mitterrand’s Rwanda archives

cde.news desk 7 April 2021, 17:30 · 1 min read

epaselect epa07488569 The photographs of those who were killed during the 1994 genocide are displayed at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in the capital Kigali, Rwanda, 06 April 2019. Rwanda on 07 April will mark the 25th anniversary of the genocide that took place in 1994, where ethnic Hutu extremists killed ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus during a three-month killing spree that resulted in, according to Rwandan estimates, the death of more than one million people. EPA-EFE/DAI KUROKAWA

PARIS (Reuters) – France will open the Rwanda archives of former French president Francois Mitterrand, President Emmanuel Macron’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.

Macron’s office said the decision to make the 1990-94 archives freely accessible aims at creating the conditions to understand the role of France in Rwanda.

“France joins the Rwandan people to commemorate the genocide of the Tutsis and expresses on this day of remembrance its compassion and solidarity towards those who escaped and towards the families of the victims,” the statement said.

(Reporting by GV De Clercq and Richard Lough)

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France to open Mitterrand’s Rwanda archives

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