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| Africa Subsaharan | |
| French diplomats prepare to leave Rwanda after ties cut | |
| 2006-11-25 | |
| Rwanda broke off diplomatic relations with France on Friday after a French judge implicated Rwandan President Paul Kagame and top aides in the 1994 assassination of the country's former leader that touched off the genocide. In a dramatic escalation of long-simmering tensions that came to boil with the judge's declarations this week, Kigali ordered the closure of the French embassy, cultural center and all other state institutions in Rwanda. "They have messed me up," lamented local music promoter Alex Karangwa. "All the artists are in the city but we have no hall to stage our concert." Outside the French school, two Rwandan students waited desperately for hours outside the locked gate, pondering how they would continue their education. Bruguiere is probing the April 6, 1994, shooting 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. Habyarimana's death set off the 100-day genocide in which Hutu extremists slaughtered some 800,000 people, mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. On Monday, Bruguiere said Kagame, a Tutsi and then a rebel leader who has denied any involvement in the attack on the plane, should be tried by the UN war crimes tribunal for Rwanda for ordering the downing of the plane. As a head of state, Kagame enjoys immunity in France, but on Wednesday, the judge issued the warrants for the nine, accusing them of murder and conspiracy. Kagame was livid, calling the claims "rubbish," accusing France of "bullying" behavior 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.
At first I thought this said, "French diplomats prepare to leave after tires cut." Maybe this French judge should pay more attention to the terrorist hoodlums at home. | |
| Posted by:KBK |