PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday declared that France would never serve as a safe haven for fugitives linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, as he pledged that justice would continue pursuing suspects living on French soil.
Speaking in Paris during the inauguration of a permanent memorial dedicated to victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi, Macron said French courts would continue prosecuting genocide suspects and that “no one will be above the law.”
“And to those who believed they had found on our soil a refuge in time or shelter in oblivion, French justice has found the means to respond,” Macron said. “No crime against humanity can benefit from statutes of limitation or impunity. And I repeat firmly: justice will be served.”
The remarks came shortly after Paul Kagame delivered an address in which he paid strong tribute to Emmanuel Macron for what he described as the courageous decision to confront historical truth regarding France’s role during the genocide period.
Kagame praised Macron for choosing honesty and responsibility over silence, saying the French leader had taken an important and difficult political step that helped open a new chapter in relations between Rwanda and France.
President Kagame was accompanied by First Lady Jeannette Kagame, alongside senior Rwandan government officials and ministers who attended the ceremony in Paris.
The event also drew senior French political, diplomatic and military officials, members of parliament, representatives of the City of Paris, survivor organizations, ambassadors and members of the French armed forces.
The monument, known as “L’Archive,” was jointly inaugurated by Presidents Kagame and Macron on the Esplanade Habib-Bourguiba along the banks of the Seine in what both sides viewed as another milestone in the evolving relationship between Rwanda and France.
Designed by Portuguese artist Grada Kilomba, the memorial consists of two large black brass steles mounted on white and black lava stones, symbolizing what organizers described as an archive of voices, memories and hopes linked to victims and survivors of the genocide.
The inauguration ceremony brought together genocide survivors, diplomats and representatives of survivor organizations, particularly Ibuka France, whose advocacy played a central role in the creation of the memorial.
Macron used the occasion to revisit his landmark 2021 speech delivered at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where he acknowledged France’s responsibilities in “a chain of events that led to the genocide against the Tutsi.”
“I do not intend to retract any of those words,” Macron said Tuesday. “I have forgotten none of them.”
The French leader said France would continue supporting historical research, opening archives and enabling historians to establish the truth surrounding one of the darkest chapters in modern history.
Macron also warned against genocide denial and the spread of ethnic hatred in the digital age, saying propaganda mechanisms similar to the infamous RTLM radio station that fueled killings during the genocide now exist online.
“Behind our screens there are other Radio Mille Collines,” he said. “Let us open our eyes.”
He cautioned that hatred based on ethnicity, race, identity or origin remains capable of triggering mass violence anywhere in the world.
“Whoever begins to hate another because of their skin color, identity, origin or ethnicity sets in motion a mechanism that sweeps everything away,” he said.
Earlier in the ceremony, genocide survivor Jeanne Uwimbabazi delivered emotional testimony recalling the horrors of the genocide and the enduring pain carried by survivors more than three decades later.
Franco-Rwandan musician and writer Gaël Faye also participated in the ceremony through a reading of a poem written by Franco-Rwandan author and genocide survivor Beata Umubyeyi Mairesse.
Macron also linked remembrance of the genocide to ongoing peace efforts in the Great Lakes region, saying the memory of the genocide should strengthen commitments to peace, sovereignty and dialogue.
“Speaking the truth is more necessary than ever,” Macron said. “It is the condition for peace.”
The memorial’s inauguration took place during the 32nd commemoration period, Kwibuka32, and is widely viewed as a significant symbol of remembrance and historical recognition in France.
The event concluded with wreath laying by Presidents Kagame and Macron, followed by a minute of silence in memory of more than one million victims killed during the genocide against the Tutsi between April and July 1994.
