Rwanda and France have agreed in principal to begin removing all obstacles with the view of urgent restoration of full diplomatic relations, Rwandan minister of Foreign Affairs, Rosemary Museminari has said.
Museminari told the state radio about the development shortly after a closed door meeting in Kigali between the Rwandan President Paul Kagame and French President’s Chief of staff Claude Gueant.
Museminari said France and Rwanda have agreed to restore diplomatic ties three years after they were cut off amid tensions over a French judicial investigation.
“Rwanda and France have agreed to restore full diplomatic relation with France. This has been agreed between the meeting of our President and Chief of Staff for French’s Presidency who conveyed a special message from Sarkozy,” Museminari said.
The news comes hardly a day after the East African nation, traditionally francophone was admitted into the Commonwealth, becoming the second nation which was not once part of the British empire to join the bloc.
Rwanda, France relations got bitterly strained after the 1994 genocide and in 2006, Kigali suspended diplomatic relations with Paris when a French judge issued arrest warrants for 10 aides close to President Kagame.
The judge accused them of being involved in the assassination of former president Juvenal Habyarimana in 1994.
According to France, Habyarimana’s death is blamed for sparking the country’s 1994 genocide which claimed over one million people in just 100 days.
Rwanda has always accused France of serious complexity in the 1994 genocide and for providing continued support to Interahamwe militias groups aimed at overthrowing the Rwandan government.
Rwanda has since 1994 moved closer towards the English-speaking world over the past few years.
Rwanda adopted English as an official language in 2008 alongside French and Kinyarwanda, and last year English replaced French as the language taught in public schools.
Source African Press Agency
