Rwanda has recalled Jacques Kabale, the country ambassador to France after the Defence Minister James Kabarebe was summoned to appear before a magistrate investigating the death of former President Juvenal Habyarimana in 1994.
Jacques Kabale was called to Rwanda for “consultations”, according to French publication Jeune Afrique. This coming after an anti-terrorism magistrate in France summoned Mr Kabarebe for questioning after a witness accused the Rwandan Patriotic Army – the former rebel group now in power in Kigali – of downing the plane carrying President Habyarimana on 6 April 1994.
France has not had an ambassador to Rwanda since the departure of Michel Flesch in 2015 after Kigali failed to approve the appointment of his successor.
The downing of the plane is considered to have helped fuel the genocide which left about 800,000 Rwandans dead. The Rwandan government has repeatedly denied involvement in the shooting.
