By Laurent Larcher | Rwanda
French President Emmanuel Macron recently acknowledge his country’s role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.While he insisted France had not been a direct “accomplice” in the killings, Macron admitted that it had refused to heed the warning signs and preferred to keep silent.”His words were something more valuable than an apology. They were the truth,” said Rwandan President Paul Kagame.He called it “an act of tremendous courage”.Rwanda’s top Catholic bishop, Cardinal Antoine Kambanda, also applauded Macron.The 62-year-old cardinal, who became archbishop of Kigali in 2018 and then got his red hat in 2020, gave this exclusive interview to La Croix’s Laurent Larcher.He spoke about the French president’s apology, the role of priests in the genocide and ongoing efforts to heal Rwanda’s fractured Catholic community.
La Croix: What did you think of Emmanuel Macron’s speech?
Cardinal Antoine Kambanda: We did not have a problem with the French, but with the policy of France in our country at the time of (Rwandan President Juvénal) Habyarimana. This caused tension between our two peoples.Emmanuel Macron’s speech clarified this point by acknowledging the role of his predecessors towards those who persecuted us: this is a fundamental step.In Rwanda, we learned to forgive our neighbor who killed our loved ones, we know how much it costs and how necessary it is to build a common future. With France, we have reached this point. We were delighted by this.
Do you share his view on the French army, that it has nothing to be ashamed of in Rwanda?
We know what the French soldiers did in our country. I myself saw them doing identity checks at roadblocks. They thought that the Tutsis were Rwandan Patriotic Front infiltrators.We know that Habyarimana’s forces were comforted by their presence, that they did nothing to stop the massacres of Tutsis between 1990 and the beginning of the genocide, that they left us in the hands of the killers in April 1994, as well as on the hill of Bisesero on June 27.We know that the genocide perpetrators were able to flee through the area they controlled.Obviously, Emmanuel Macron did not want to upset certain French soldiers. What matters is the step he took in our direction.
Should he have explicitly asked for forgiveness?
He did it in the Rwandan way by expressing compassion for the suffering that was inflicted upon us. By recognizing this, he is in the process of asking for forgiveness from us.It is very important for us that France understands how much we have suffered from the choices it has made here. This understanding is a first step.
What do you mean?
President Macron, as well as our president, have recognized that this is a step. After acknowledging France’s responsibility for our tragedy, after expressing his compassion for our suffering, the time will come to ask for our forgiveness.But in my eyes and in the eyes of many Rwandans, President Macron has said the essential thing. We can now truly become partners in a peaceful and tranquil spirit.
27 years after the genocide, have Rwandan Catholics reconciled among themselves?
The Rwandan Church is the image of society. We have done a lot of work to ask for forgiveness among ourselves. This begins with reconciling with oneself for the evil that one has done.It is not easy to recognize it, there is a lot of inner resistance, we prefer to escape through violence, drugs, alcohol…But if we succeed in this process, then we are in a position of reconciliation with others. This is the path we took in Rwanda, it is on the side of life, reconstruction and the future.We are moving forward together on this path.
International NGOs criticize Paul Kagame for violating human rights in his country.
Those who say this have not taken the measure of the genocide against the Tutsis.There are forces outside the country, especially in the diaspora, which have stuck to the 1994 ideology. And they have connections within our society itself.These forces are pushing for division, breathing a spirit of violence into a country that has experienced the most extreme violence on a massive scale.Faced with them, we must not be fooled or naive.What from the outside is called political opposition, from the inside we know is a front for those who want to ethnicize the debate, to raise one community against another and to terrify the victims of the genocide.
Do you consider Paul Kagame to be the greatest criminal in the Great Lakes region?
No. He, and he alone, stopped the genocide. What the RPF did in Zaire (today DR-Congo) was to wage war against the perpetrators of the genocide.They reorganized themselves to attack us. There were civilians with them, and they led them on a terrible journey into the heart of the Congolese forest. Many died during this escape.But this was by no means genocide, as implied by the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Mapping report. It was neither fair nor honest.Most Rwandan refugees in Zaire have returned home. But those responsible for and involved in the genocide of the Tutsis, their Congolese allies, have invented this accusation. It is taken up, sometimes in good faith, by Westerners.But they are being used by the very people who have an interest in not looking at what they did in our country.I invite those who, in good faith, make these accusations, to come to Rwanda to see the reality of our country.
What do you do with priests judged guilty of genocide?
Their situation has not been foreseen by canon law.We have to invent every day to face the consequences of genocide.In this particular case, those who are in prison, there are about five of them, we ask them to enter into an act of repentance. We check with those who have finished their sentences, to determine if they are no longer driven by the spirit of the genocide.If this is not the case, we ask them to lead a life of penance, to pray to save their soul and to collaborate with justice.For the others, they are reintegrated among us, but on the condition that they keep a low profile and adopt a life of penance.
What about the refugees in Europe?
Everyone here knows the scandalous attitude of a certain number of priests who have found refuge in Europe: there are priests in France, Belgium, Italy and Spain.For the communities that welcome them, seeing them as genociders is unthinkable: they are supported and protected in some way.It is true that it is difficult to conceive that a priest could have committed acts of genocide! Everything is difficult to conceive in a genocide.The only thing we can hope for is that justice can do its work.Emmanuel Macron made a commitment on this point at the Kigali Memorial. We cannot wish for anything else.
Read more at: https://international.la-croix.com/news/politics/rwandan-cardinal-assesses-the-1994-genocide/14418
