France

A commission that spent almost two years exposing France's role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide concluded that Friday reacted too slowly to estimate the scale of the terror, which left more than 800,000 dead, but cleared the country of involvement in the massacre. The report said France was carrying "heavy and overwhelming responsibility" in the operation that led to the killings, which mainly claimed victims of Rwanda's ethnic minority in Tutsi. Persistent claims that France under then-President Francois…

The nearly 1,200-page report from the Ducler Commission was officially handed over to Emmanuel Macron on Friday. Two years ago, the French president instructed about fifteen historians, gathered in a commission led by historian Vincent Duclert, to examine "the French archives relating to Rwanda and the genocide of the Tutsis" between 1990 and 1994. It stated the goal of establishing France's role in the Rwandan genocide seems to have been achieved. France bears "heavy and overwhelming responsibility" in the events…

While the Togolese press has in recent days repeated false information about the journalist for RFI's Africa service Pierre Firtion, the management of the channel wants to make an update. In a press release published on Friday, March 26, the RFI management states that no disciplinary action of any kind has been taken against him and that any statement to the contrary is a lie. The management of RFI…

Local officials in northern Mali accused the French military on Friday of killing six civilians in an airstrike, but French forces said they had hit extremist militants. The incident, which occurred on Thursday in the remote region of Gao, is the second time this year that France's operation Barkhane has been accused of killing civilians. The operation involves more than 5,000 troops fighting militants in Mali and neighboring countries. Barkhane said the strike had "neutralized" a group of militants…

The president of the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac Museum, Emmanuel Kasarherou, arrived in Cotonou on Wednesday, March 24, on a technical mission through March 28, to advance preparations on the Benin side for the return of the 26 works promised by Paris. Time is running out, as the French deputies have given Benin and Senegal a year to complete the process and restore that work. The French mission is purely technical. On the program, work sessions and site visits for Quai Branly's president. For his visit, Benin mobilized…

Algerian researchers must have access to the archives of Algeria kept in France by Abdelmajid Chikhi, Director General of the Algerian National Archives. The latter requires the opening of archives on both sides of the Mediterranean. Abdelmajid Chikhi was a guest on Monday on the Qatari channel Al-Jazeera in a program about the…

France will resume its embassy in the war-torn Libyan capital Tripoli next Monday, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, promising to support the new interim government. Macron met with Mohammed Menfi, head of Libya's three-member presidency council, in Paris. Menfi was elected in February as part of a UN-hosted political process. Menfi and Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah are tasked with guiding the Government of National Unity (GNU) until the national elections scheduled for December…

France will reopen its embassy in Tripoli on Monday, March 29. This was announced by Emmanuel Macron to the representatives of the new Libyan transitional government, which he received at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday 23 March. Libyan President Mohamed al Manfi and Vice President Moussa al Koni welcomed Paris' support for the ongoing reconciliation and stabilization process in Libya. France has offered…

Figure of the Senegalese artistic scene, the painter Ndoye Douts invites to a unique dive in the popular districts of Dakar. It is there, from Yoff to Gueule-Tapée, that he draws his inspiration since leaving art in 1999. "Entre terre et mer", his new exhibition at the Art-Z Gallery in Paris, until March 27, testifies to abundant, colorful, playful work.…

After a blank year in 2020 due to a pandemic, the Franco-African Foundation will resume this month and until March 21 its call for applications to select a new promotion of 100 young African and French entrepreneurs. The Young Leaders, an initiative launched in 2017 by Beninese Lionel Zinsou with the support of the French public authorities, has become a private foundation, but the goal remains the same:…