Rwanda President Paul Kagame at genocide memorial ceremony: French-Rwandan progadanda war.

© Rwanda presidency/afrol News

afrol News, 21 November - The government of Rwanda ignored a ruling by a French magistrate asking for the country's President to be charged for his alleged involvement in the death of a former Rwandan President. President Paul Kagame denies involvement in the death of the country's former leader Juvenal Habyarimana.

The former Rwandan President was killed on 6 April 1994 when his plane was shot down over the capital Kigali. Also dead in the incident were the former Burundian President, Cyprien Ntaryamira, and four French citizens on board the plane. The death of the former Rwandan leader is often said to have sparked off genocide during which close to a million minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu militias.

The French Magistrate, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, said that President Kagame should be prosecuted over his suspected involvement in the death of Mr Habyarimana.

But the magistrate's statement attracted angry reactions from Rwandan officials, who described the allegations as totally unfounded because the Mr Bruguiere was acting on mere "gossip and rumours". They also saw it as a political game rather than a serious judicial process.

As a head of state, Mr Kagame is immune from prosecution but France is still adamant in its quest to put the case before the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which has been hearing cases of former Rwandan army officers, politicians and clerics accused of fanning the genocide.

Since its establishment in 1994, the court has tried 31 suspects, convicted 26 and acquitted five. 25 trials are in progress out of which 12 have not started yet. The ICTR Chief Prosecutor, Hassan Abubacarr Jallow of The Gambia, had earlier said the Habyarimana case is outside of his mandate.

The French investigator also suspected nine other people for being involved in the plane shooting. These include Rwandan Armed Forces Chief, James Kabarebe and lieutenant colonel Charles Kayonga.

Mr Bruguiere's request to give an account of the implication of Mr Kagame was turned down by a tribunal in Rwanda.

President Kagame, who headed the Tutsi groups that took power in Kigali in July 1994, was key to ending the genocide. And he has always maintained his innocence in the Habyarimana killing.

Nevertheless, the families of the French crew and the widow of the former President have asked the French Magistrate to investigate the case. In Rwanda, this French intervention is seen with much scepticism given France's role in Rwandan politics before, during and after the genocide.

Although a French parliamentary investigation cleared France from being responsible for the 100-day long genocide, Rwandan officials still hold that France should be probed in playing a key role in supporting and providing training to Hutu militia before the genocide.

While Rwanda is a former Belgian colony, France had forged close ties with its French-speaking government from 1975 to 1994. France also sent troops to Rwanda during the genocide under the auspices of the UN.

These allegations against President Kagame will surely strained relations between France and Rwanda even more. Paris is again accused of being openly hostile to the leaders of Kigali, which is why they the French have been trying to link Mr Kagame to the assassination of ex-President Habyarinmana. This is believed to be part of attempts by Paris to protect itself from aiding and abetting the Rwandan genocide.

Mr Kagame at the time of Mr Habyarinmana's killing was head of the Uganda-based Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) rebel movement, fighting the French-supported Kigali government that was increasingly hostile to the country's Tutsi minority. During the genocide ordered by Kigali officials, Mr Kagame led his RPF troops to victory, fighting the genocidal troops and ending the slaughter.

Earlier, the European Court of Human Rights has slammed the French judiciary for using unreasonable long time in proceeding against a Rwandan clergyman, who was charged with genocide compliancy nine years ago. Human rights groups hold that French courts have been unwilling to abide by their obligation to try suspected perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

By staff writer

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