Gen Kazura will be accompanied by three senior military officials from RDF on the three-day official visit. <\/p>\n
These include Brig Gen Patrick Karuretwa, the Head of International Military Cooperation; Brig Gen Vincent Nyakarundi, RDF Head of Military Intelligence and Col Jean Chrysostome Ngendahimana, RDF Chief J3 (in Charge of Operation and Training). <\/p>\n
The senior military officers are to visit France following giant strides to normalize relations between Rwanda and the country. <\/p>\n
Rwanda, France relations wavered in the past over the role France is accused to have played during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.<\/p>\n
However, both countries\u2019 relations have been on good progress since Macron took office in 2017. <\/p>\n
In 2021, Macron came to Rwanda for a two-day maiden visit from 27th to 28th May where he admitted his country\u2019s responsibility during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. <\/p>\n
“Standing here today, with humility and respect, by your side, I have come to recognize our responsibilities,” said Macron as he visited Kigali Genocide Memorial.<\/p>\n
At the time, he said that France had a duty to admit the “suffering it inflicted on the Rwandan people by too long valuing silence over the examination of the truth.”<\/p>\n
Macron said that only those who had survived the horrors \u201ccan perhaps forgive ; give us the gift of forgiveness\u201d.<\/p>\n
The visit was held shortly after the release of Duclert report that reviewed archives on France\u2019s role during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. <\/p>\n
It was made by an expert committee of French historians led by Prof. Vincent Duclert.<\/p>\n
The report by French historians revealed that France bears “heavy and overwhelming responsibilities” over tragic history that led to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi which took lives of over 1 million victims.<\/p>\n
The report blames the then French President, Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand, for a “failure” of policy towards Rwanda in 1994. The findings were made public after years of French official secrecy over links to the Government led by Juvenal Habyarimana.<\/p>\n
On the first day of his visit to Rwanda last year, Macron visited Kigali Genocide Memorial where he paid tribute to over 250,000 victims of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. <\/p>\n
He also participated in a joint press conference with his host, President Paul Kagame, visited Tumba College of Technology where a Department of Mechatronics would be set up through a partnership with French Agency for Development (AFD).<\/p>\n
On the same day, Macron visited Gikondo Health Center before officiating the launch of French Cultural Center located near Kigali Convention Center, Kimihurura Sector, Gasabo District.<\/p>\n
The center has a section dedicated to learning French, culture-based training and providing official French language certification, boasts a large outdoor stage that can host shows and concerts.<\/p>\n
On Thursday night, Macron and Kagame also watched quarter-finals of the inaugural season of Basketball Africa League (BAL) during which Patriots BBC representing Rwanda beat Ferrovi\u00e1rio de Maputo representing Mozambique73-71 at Kigali Arena.<\/p>\n
Among others, his visit left various agreements signed between both countries. The pacts include a framework for bilateral cooperation signed between French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian and Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincent Biruta.<\/p>\n
The two countries signed an agreement for sports and talent development which saw Rwanda receiving \u20ac1.5 million (approximately Rwf1.84 billion) for sport and talent development.<\/p>\n
Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Uzziel Ndagijimana also signed a Euro 60 million financing agreement with R\u00e9my Rioux the Director-General of French Agency for Development (AFD).<\/p>\n
His coming to Rwanda is considered a major milestone to turning a new page for both countries relations blurred by France\u2019s failure to admit its role during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.<\/p>\n
In May 2021, President Paul Kagame also held talks with former French senior military officers who served in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994 for a candid discussion about history of Genocide against Tutsi.<\/p>\n
Rwanda, France diplomatic relations date back in 1962 after obtaining Independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{The Chief of Defence Staff of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), Gen Jean Bosco Kazura is set to visit France at the invitation of his counterpart, Gen Thierry Burkhard.} <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[72,75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-45448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-featured-news-home","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45448\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45448"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=45448"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=45448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}