afrol News, 11 November - Rwandan government has expelled Germany's ambassador to Kigali today and recalled its own ambassador from Berlin in reaction to an arrest of a top Rwandan official in Frankfurt on Sunday.

Ms Rose Kabuye, chief of protocol for current Rwandan president Paul Kagame was sought for questioning by a French judge for allegedly being involved in downing of a plane 14 years ago carrying Rwanda's former Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana that sparked the country's infamous genocide.

Foreign Minister Rosemary Museminali said German envoy would not be welcome until arrest of protocol chief was resolved.

Ms Museminali told Reuters news agency that action did not mean a cut in diplomatic ties. "It's not a permanent move ... we've called our ambassador in Berlin to come for consultations, and we've asked German ambassador to leave until this matter is resolved," she said.

Earlier in the day, president Paul Kagame denounced Ms Kabuye's arrest as a violation of Rwandan sovereignty.

Local reports said Ms Kabuye's arrest has sparked outrage in Rwanda, saying itself poised to issue indictments and arrest warrants against 23 French military and political officials over their suspected role in the genocide.

On Monday, several thousands demonstrators marched to German embassy in capital Kigali and offices of Deutsche Welle, Germany's national broadcaster in protest for Ms Kabuye's arrest.

French legal authorities have been investigating Mr Habyarimana's death because his aircraft had a French crew. The arrest warrants led to an immediate break in diplomatic relations between Paris and Kigali, and tensions that have continued ever since.

In August, Rwandan government issued a 500-page report accusing 13 French politicians of playing a role in the massacres, including then-president Francois Mitterrand, who died in 1996, and former prime minister Edouard Balladur.

A former deputy, Ms Kabuye is first Rwandan to be arrested out of nine warrants issued by French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere in 2006 against close Mr Kagame aides who he suspected of being behind Habyarimana's death.

Rwanda's genocide began hours after plane was mysteriously shot down as it approached capital, Kigali, on 6 April, 1994.

The 100-day slaughter, in which more than 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate members of Hutu majority were killed by Hutu extremists, ended after rebels ousted Hutu government that orchestrated the killings.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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