posted
[color=blue][size=3]Rwanda breaks ties with France [/color][/size] 25 November 2006 08:47
Rwanda on Friday severed all ties with France as a row over a French judge's implication of the Rwandan president and top aides in the assassination of the country's former leader boiled over.
In an emergency meeting just hours after Kigali announced the recall of its ambassador to Paris, President Paul Kagame's Cabinet ordered the closure of the French embassy and the expulsion of its envoy in Kigali.
"The Cabinet has requested the French ambassador to leave the country within 24 hours," Foreign Minister Charles Murigande said. "We are also asking for the closure of all French institutions in the country, including the French embassy and the French Cultural Centre."
Information Minister Laurent Nkusi said the order affects all French state institutions, including the French international school in Kigali, the Ecole Internationale Francaise Saint-Exupéry, which was given 72 hours to close. "We have decided to close all contact with France at this point," he said.
The decision was confirmed in Paris by the French Foreign Ministry, which had expressed hope earlier that Kigali's recall of its envoy to France did not mean "dialogue" between the two countries had been cut.
"The Rwandan authorities gave verbal notice today [Friday] to our ambassador in Kigali of their decision to break off diplomatic relations, with the decision to take effect on Monday November 27," the ministry said in a statement.
Rising tension The move caps months of rising tension between the once-close allies over alleged French complicity in Rwanda's 1994 genocide and charges by France's top anti-terrorism judge that Kagame was behind the incident that touched it off.
But Nkusi said the Cabinet had considered what he said was a long history of French animosity toward Rwanda, as well as the allegations made by French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, when it made the decision to break off relations.
"We decided after looking at France's record in fighting Rwanda over the last few years, both in international organisations and other international fora," he said. "We also considered Bruguiere's report."
Bruguiere is probing the April 6 1994 shoot-down over Kigali of a plane carrying Rwanda's then president Juvenal Habyarimana, along with Burundi's former leader Cyprien Ntaryamira, both ethnic Hutus, and a French crew.
The death of Habyarimana, killed in the crash along with Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira, set off the 100-day genocide in which Hutu extremists slaughtered about 800 000 people, mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
On Monday, Bruguiere said Kagame, a Tutsi and then a rebel leader who has always denied any involvement in the attack on the plane, should be tried for possibly ordering the downing of the plane.
As a head of state, Kagame enjoys immunity, but on Wednesday, the judge signed international arrest warrants for nine of the president's close associates, accusing them of murder and conspiracy in the incident.
'Rubbish' Kagame reacted furiously, calling the claims "rubbish", accusing France of "bullyish" behaviour and repeating allegations that France was complicit in the genocide by backing the radical Hutus blamed for most of the killings.
French troops in Rwanda before and during the genocide have been accused of training and supporting the Interahamwe militia, allegations highlighted last month when a Rwandan inquiry panel opened public hearings in the matter.
On Thursday, more than 25 000 angry Rwandans denounced France's alleged involvement in the genocide and Bruguiere at a rare, government-approved protest in Kigali's Amahoro National Stadium.
Many echoed Kagame's calls for France to be held accountable for its alleged role in the genocide, and Murigande said on Friday that Bruguiere's report was politically motivated attempt to smear Kagame and his government.
Paris adamantly denies the charges, but Kigali's government-appointed commission is tasked with determining if there is evidence to file a suit against France for damages at the world court.
The panel began open hearings, which are set to resume on December 11, last month. The move further strained the already tense relations between Rwanda and France, which has long been actively involved in the former Belgian colony.
At the commission's initial public session, witnesses testified that France wanted to support Habyarimana's pro-French, francophone government from attack by Kagame's Ugandan-based, anglophone Rwandan Patriotic Front rebels in order to preserve its influence in Africa. -- Sapa-AFP
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic