Macron Wants France to Commemorate Rwanda Genocide

President Emmanuel Macron of France said on Sunday that he wanted to create a national day of commemoration for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which has been a longstanding source of tension between the two countries.

Mr. Macron said in a statement that he wanted to create a national day of remembrance on April 7, the date 25 years ago that Rwanda’s Hutu majority began systematically massacring members of the Tutsi minority, leaving an estimated 800,000 to one million people dead.

“On this day of commemoration for the 25th anniversary of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, the president of the republic expresses his solidarity with the Rwandan people and his compassion for the victims and their families,” the statement said.

Rwanda, led by President Paul Kagame, has long accused France of complicity in the genocide and of helping some of the perpetrators escape, poisoning ties between the two countries, even though relations have warmed since Mr. Macron’s election in 2017.