RWANDA - FRANCE RELATIONS

Rwanda-France relations
Tuesday, 07 April 2009 00:56 BY JAMES KARUHANGA

President Paul Kagame yesterday told visiting members of the international media that the relations between Rwanda and France are now improving. He revealed this at Urugwiro Village during a special news conference for the international press who are in the country to cover the 15th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsis. "The relationship is improving. It is certainly much better than it used to be before the current (French) administration came to power. There is a big difference between the administration under (Jacques) Chirac and the administration under (Nicolas) Sarkozy," Kagame said.
"And there is still big room, we are working on to have this progress continue."
On the same issue a French journalist later pressed on seeking to know if there was "something" Kagame (or Rwanda) then expected from France today, the president responded that Rwanda expects a better understanding.
"I think we expect a better understanding of events, of history, of what happened – all of which have been affecting our relations."
"Can we have the truth, can we have the facts, can we have things put the way they should be?" he wondered.
"And if we can have convergence on this between France and Rwanda and, particularly France because whatever the argument is, they have a history with Rwanda. They were in Rwanda irrespective of whether we agree or do not agree on what they did or what they did not do."
And, he put in plain words what the contentious issues are.
"To agree or even come closer to agreeing on what this (French) involvement was about and what it contributed, on what it did not contribute to relate to this very serious and tragic situation we have before us," he said.
Kagame acknowledged that it is, "a bit complex" and noted the fact that the argument is "unfortunate" as it sometimes tends to encompass everybody in France or in Rwanda yet it does not.
"There are people who were, and not so many maybe, but who happened to be seen or their presence is interpreted in that much wider context. Even for people who either did not agree with France’s involvement in Rwanda before the genocide or during or after."
He, as a case in point, brought up the possibility of those who were not even yet born or who were born after the genocide and yet find themselves embroiled in the argument.
"If we could do some kind of sorting out of the real issues that we should be dealing with and deal with them correctly, I think that is what for us (Rwanda) we need to be looking at," he said.
Kagame stressed that getting the truth out, having facts; the evidence and, finally putting the blame where it should go are what is desirable.
During the news conference, Kagame responded to many questions, most related to the commemoration and he also spoke about the persistent media--especially international media--conflicting reporting about the numbers of Rwandans who died in 1994 genocide against Tutsis.
Some in the international press put the figure at 800,000, others even at 500,000 while a team of professional researchers put the number of victims at 1.2 million.
"We actually tried to do the actual counting and I think it was done professionally. People were hired from universities; statisticians were involved and so on."
On this issue too, Kagame said, people can decide to ignore it (actual figure) but that is a different matter.
The President concurred, the numbers issue is trivial and, might blur the underlying and more significant aspect – why and how the people were killed.
"I don’t want us to get lost in numbers. I think the weight lies in why these people were killed, even how they were killed."
"Some people think they are minimizing it, some are even saying it is only five hundred thousand, but a genocide that takes five hundred thousand lives is still genocide anyway. I don’t want us to get lost in numbers but that is the issue," Kagame emphasized.