20 November 2008 - 20H26
France and Rwanda weighed down by history?
After a French court charged a senior Rwandan presidential aide with complicity in the 1994 assassination of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, we discuss whether France and Rwanda are weighed down by history. (Part 1)
A French court on Wednesday charged a senior Rwandan presidential aide with complicity in the assassination of former Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana in April 1994.
Rose Kabuye, who is chief of protocol of the current Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, was arrested in Germany last week on a warrant issued by French anti-terrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguière two years ago.
She is one of nine senior Rwandan officials wanted in connection with the shooting down of Habyarimana's plane. His death helped trigger the subsequent genocide of 800,000 Tutsis by the ruling Hutus.
At the time, Kabuye was a guerrilla fighter with Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front, now the ruling party in Rwanda.
Her arrest has further soured relations between France and Rwanda, which broke off diplomatic ties with Paris in 2006. On Wednesday, tens of thousands of Rwandans protested against Kabuye's detention.
Robert Parsons' guests are:
Billie OKADAMERI, Africa editor at Radio France International
Colette BRAECKMAN, journalist for 'Le Soir' and author of 'Rwanda: the History of a Genocide'
Sarah DAREHSHORI, prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and Senior counselor with the international justice programme of Human Rights Watch.
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