Sarkozy visits Rwanda

A couple of days ago Nicolas Sarkozy, during a tour of French-speaking African countries, visited Rwanda, the first visit by a French leader for 25 years. Mr Sarkozy visited a memorial for the victims of the genocide and later at a press conference with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, he spoke of his regrets about the sequence of events that culminated in the genocide. While he did not formally apologize, he admitted that errors were committed by France and much of the international community. Errors that contributed to the Rwandan genocide which killed about 800,000 people in 1994. Mr Sarkozy went on to say, “What happened in Rwanda was a defeat for humanity that left an indelible stain. What happened here obliges the international community – including France – to reflect on the errors which prevented us from foreseeing, or stopping, this appalling crime. Errors of appreciation, political errors, were committed here which had consequences which were absolutely tragic.”