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Africa

The Latest: French president expresses support for Rwanda

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, center-left, First Lady Jeannette Kagame, center, and son Ivan Cyomoro Kagame, right, prepare to lay a wreath at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Kigali, Rwanda Sunday, April 7, 2019. Rwanda is commemorating the 25th anniversary of when the country descended into an orgy of violence in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the majority Hutu population over a 100-day period in what was the worst genocide in recent history. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

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    From left to right, Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat, Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, Rwanda's First Lady Jeannette Kagame, and President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, light the flame of remembrance at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Kigali, Rwanda, Sunday, April 7, 2019. Rwanda is commemorating the 25th anniversary of when the country descended into an orgy of violence in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the majority Hutu population over a 100-day period in what was the worst genocide in recent history. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

KIGALI, Rwanda – The Latest on the commemorations to mark the start of Rwanda's genocide 25 years ago. (all times local):

3:15 p.m.

President Emmanuel Macron wants each April 7 to become a day of commemoration of the "genocide of Tutsis" in Rwanda, now marking the 25th anniversary of the start of the ethnic slaughter of some 800,000 people, mainly ethnic Tutsis.

In a brief statement Sunday, April 7, the day the slaughter began a quarter century ago, Macron expressed "solidarity with the Rwandan people." A remembrance is being held Sunday in Paris, but Macron is not attending.

On Friday, Macron ordered a commission of researchers and historians to scour archives "to analyze the role and involvement of France" in Rwanda from 1990-1994.

Critics say France was too supportive of Rwanda's Hutu-led government whose supporters carried out the genocide, with some saying French soldiers there were complicit — which France denies.

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Rwanda on Sunday somberly commemorated the start, 25 years ago, of its genocide in which some 800,000 people were killed, as the country continues to grapple with the lasting consequences of the mass killings.

President Paul Kagame and first lady Jeannette Kagame laid wreaths and lit a flame at the mass burial ground of 250,000 victims at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center in the capital, Kigali.

Those attending the ceremonies included the leaders of Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Djibouti, Niger, Belgium, Canada, Ethiopia, as well as the African Union and the European Union.

There will be a procession through the capital to Kigali's National Stadium where are many as 30,000 are expected to participate in an evening candlelit ceremony.

The mass killing of Rwanda's Tutsi minority was ignited on April 6, 1994, when a plane carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down and crashed in Kigali, killing the leader who, like the majority of Rwandans, was an ethnic Hutu.

The Tutsi minority was blamed for downing the plane and the bands of Hutu extremists began slaughtering the Tutsi, with support from the army, police, and militias.

Kagame's government has previously accused Hutu-led government of 1994 of being responsible for shooting down the plane and has blamed the French government for turning a blind eye to the genocide.