France now has an ambassador in Rwanda

is official, the Rwandan government approved Saturday, June 12, the appointment of Antoine Anfré, 58, as French ambassador to Rwanda. Another sign that relations are improving between France and Rwanda. Indeed, this post had been vacant since 2015 due to tensions between the two countries over the role played by Paris in the 1994 genocide.

Standardization becomes concrete

An essential step in the normalization of relations between Paris and Kigali, the appointment of a French ambassador to the country was announced by President Emmanuel Macron on May 27, during an official visit during which he then had recognized France’s “responsibilities” in the 1994 genocide against Tutsis, which left at least 800,000 dead.

The stated objective of the French head of state was to “finalize” the normalization of relations with Rwanda after “27 years of bitter distance. […], misunderstanding, sincere but unsuccessful attempts at reconciliation ”. In 2010, Nicolas Sarkozy, the only French president to have visited Kigali since the genocide, had already recognized “serious errors” and “a form of blindness” on the part of the French authorities having had “absolutely dramatic” consequences.

The question of France’s role before, during and after the genocide has been a hot topic for years, even leading to a breakdown in diplomatic relations between Paris and Kigali between 2006 and 2009. In an attempt to revive the presence French, Emmanuel Macron also inaugurated a new Francophone cultural center in Kigali, seven years after the closure of the French Institute in Rwanda. Built on a new model of cooperation, this center is presented as a symbol of “the new relationship” between France and Rwanda after years of tensions.

Until now, the French diplomatic system was represented by Jérémie Blin, the charge d’affaires who arrived in the Rwandan capital in 2019 with a first advisor.

Antoine Anfré, a connoisseur of Rwanda and Africa

It is in this context that the appointment of diplomat Antoine Anfré was confirmed. It was approved at a meeting of the Rwandan government cabinet, headed by President Paul Kagame, according to an official report claiming to have validated the diplomat’s accreditation proposed by Paris.

Former ambassador to Niger from 2014 to 2015, Antoine Anfré is quoted on several occasions in the report of a commission of French historians headed by Vincent Duclert, handed over to President Macron in March and which concluded on the “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” of the France in the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda. And for good reason, a graduate of Sciences Po and ENA, Antoine Anfré was first secretary to the French ambassador in Kampala between 1987 and 1991 at the time of the creation of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, in power.

Then “Rwanda editor” at the Directorate of African and Malagasy Affairs (DAM) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he had warned as early as 1991 against the risks of violent drifts in Rwanda and pointed to “a necessary change” in French policy in the region, according to the Duclert report which states that his notes earned him being excluded from the DAM.

Today, his roadmap can be read in light of President Macron’s break promises. On the diplomatic front, on the one hand, the new ambassador is well acquainted with the environment of the Great Lakes and its challenges. But the rapprochement between Paris and Kigali is intended to be both diplomatic and economic, with the re-engagement of the French Development Agency, the BPI agency, the establishment for two years of French companies, economic partnerships should accelerate. in Rwanda and well beyond to the east of the African continent.