A close associate of Rwanda's President Paul Kagame has been arrested at Frankfurt airport. German police arrested Rose Kabuye, the director general of state protocol, on a French arrest warrant.
She is suspected of involvement in the death of former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana in a plane crash in 1994. The aircraft had been hit by a missile. The president's death sparked the genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
 Rose Kabuye |
Kigali is furious over the arrest which took place on Sunday, saying that Ms Kabuye was in Germany on government business and that her diplomatic immunity has been violated. The German ambassador in Kigali has been summoned.
According to Rwanda's Information Ministry, Ms Kabuye is innocent. Her arrest was denounced as "a political game designed to blur the truth and weaken the government" and "an abuse of international jurisdiction".
'Private visit'
Diplomatic sources in Berlin, however, say that Ms Kabuye was on a private visit to Germany, which enabled them to order her arrest. During an earlier visit to Germany in April she was accompanying president Kagame on an official visit. The sources added that Ms Kabuye had been warned repeatedly that she risked arrest when on German soil.
When French judge Jean-Louis Brugière issued the arrest warrants against a nine people close to president Kagame in 2006, Rwanda broke off diplomatic relations with France. All nine are suspected of involvement in the downing of Habyarimana's plane. Kabuye is the first of them to have been arrested. German authorities say she will be extradited to France.
Tags: genocide, habyarimana, ictr, paul kagame, rwanda
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