Kagame warns of ‘showdown’ with France over genocide probe

Rwandan leader Paul Kagame warned Monday of a “showdown” with Paris after French investigators last week said they would reopen a probe into the genocide-triggering assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana. The shooting down of Habyarimana’s French-crewed plane on April 6, 1994, kickstarted the genocide that claimed around 800,000 mostly Tutsi lives. French investigators announced last […]

Rwandan leader Paul Kagame warned Monday of a “showdown” with Paris after French investigators last week said they would reopen a probe into the genocide-triggering assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana.
The shooting down of Habyarimana’s French-crewed plane on April 6, 1994, kickstarted the genocide that claimed around 800,000 mostly Tutsi lives.
French investigators announced last week they were re-opening a probe into the killing in order to hear evidence from a dissident general who says Kagame was responsible.
The revival of the investigation has angered Kagame, who said it threatened to damage diplomatic relations with France which has only slowly been rebuilt since the genocide. France was seen then as supporting the Hutu regime that carried out the bulk of the killings.
“We wanted to have a good relationship, we wanted to clear this case that shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” Kagame said in a speech to parliament.