Kagame warns France over pre-genocide assassination inquiry

Rwandan president Paul Kagame has warned France after French prosecutors said they will dig more on the assassination of president Juvenal Habyarimana, which triggered the country’s genocide in 1994.

Addressing parliament on Monday, Kagame said it is France that should be in the dock being tried and not any body in Rwanda stressing that the situation could lead to a “showdown” with France.

Former Burundian president Cyprian Ntaryamira and a French crew died when the plane was downed sparking waves of violence in a 1994 genocide which led to the death of about 800.000 Rwandans-most of whom were Tutsi.

The situation later led to Paul Kagame’s rise to power on the ticket of the Rwandan Patriotic Front.

The case has been reopened as French investigators seek to hear the evidence of a former Rwandan army chief, Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, a former Kagame ally who is no longer on talking terms with Paul Kagame.

Nyamwasa who now lives in South Africa after escaping assassination attempts now suggests that seven of Kagame’s associates had a hand in the murder.

A commission of inquiry set up by the Rwandan government blamed the Hutu tribe for the murder.