France says Rwandans' arrest warrants not political

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

PARIS, Nov 26 (Reuters) Arrest warrants issued by a French judge for associates of Rwandan President Paul Kagame are not politically motivated, France said today, two days after the central African state severed diplomatic ties with Paris.

Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said the warrants were ''not the result of a political decision by the French government''.

''This is a judicial decision that belongs to judge Bruguiere,'' he told French radio Radio-J in an interview.

Douste-Blazy was commenting on anti-terrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere's decision last week to issue warrants for nine associates of Kagame over the 1994 shooting down of a plane in which former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana died.

The crash led to the massacre of some 800,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus by extremist Hutus.

Bruguiere has also called for Kagame to stand trial at a UN court over the killing of Habyarimana.

He filed a document at the Paris prosecutor's office, citing evidence that Kagame and members of his military staff planned the 1994 operation to destroy the plane.

Those accusations have infuriated the Kagame government, which calls them a cover-up to mask France's role in training the Rwandan soldiers who carried out the genocide.

Kagame yesterday said it was senior Hutu commanders backed by France who shot down the plane carrying the former president.

''The ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda) has information pointing to people who were responsible for gunning down Habyarimana's plan and these are Hutu extremists including senior commanders at the time of that government with the support of France,'' Kagame told Reuters in an interview.

Rwanda has long said France shares blame for the genocide.

France, one of they key supporters of the Hutu-led regime that governed the country in the years leading up to the genocide, has always denied responsibility for the slaughter.

Reuters KR VP0010

For Daily Alerts
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
X