VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLGB #0391 1151323
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 251323Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4068
INFO RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 0049
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 0862
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 1586
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0204
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 0846
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0226
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 0158

UNCLAS KIGALI 000391 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KJUS RW
SUBJECT: RWANDA PETITIONS THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE 
 
¶1.  (U) Rwanda on April 18 petitioned the International Court 
of Justice (ICJ) regarding the November 2006 issuance of 
arrest warrants by French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere against 
nine senior Rwandan officials.  These officials, according to 
an investigation conducted by Bruguiere, were allegedly 
involved in the April 6, 1994 shooting down of a presidential 
jet piloted by a French crew (this incident touching off the 
three-month-long genocide).  When issuing the arrest 
warrants, Bruguiere also recommended to the International 
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that President Paul 
Kagame be prosecuted for his alleged role in the downing of 
the presidential jet. Rwanda responded to the issuance of 
these arrest warrants by breaking diplomatic relations with 
France.  In its filing at the ICJ, Rwanda asked that the ICJ 
nullify the arrest warrants as a violation of Rwanda's 
sovereignty and of various international immunities. 
 
¶2.  (U) In publicly acknowledging receipt of the court 
application, the ICJ noted that it had been filed under rules 
of the court which require consent to jurisdiction by the 
defending state.  The ICJ stated in its April 18 press 
release that it had transmitted the court filing to the 
government of France, but that "no action will be taken in 
the proceedings unless and until France consents to the 
Court's jurisdiction in the case." 
 
¶3.  (U) Separately, in mid-April two of the nine Rwanda 
officials subject to the French arrest warrants, Chief of 
Army Staff Lieutenant General Charles Kayonga and Brigadier 
General Jack Nziza, filed suit in a Belgian court seeking to 
quash application of the arrest warrants in Belgium.  This 
case had several preliminary hearings in the last two weeks, 
with May 24 set for further proceedings. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama, upon his 
return from The Hague this week, told the embassy that the 
GOR would argue before the ICJ that the international legal 
order had been put "in jeopardy" by the French arrest 
warrants.  Normal "immunities" for traveling officials would 
be breached, and the ability of senior officials to conduct 
public business severely constrained.  Karugamara added that, 
as French officials had on several occasions claimed that the 
arrest warrants were a purely judicial matter, beyond the 
competence or authority of France's executive branch, then 
any refusal to accept ICJ jurisdiction would be 
"embarrassing."  If the matter was purely judicial, he said, 
"then why not let the ICJ decide?" 
 
¶5. (SBU) On the subject of the lawsuit filed by the two 
Rwandan generals, Tharcisse repeated earlier published 
statements by the GOR that the suit was "an entirely private 
matter."  But he conceded that the GOR would follow the 
matter "with great interest," and said that a similar 
"private" lawsuit was being readied for filing in France. 
Additional plaintiffs, from among the nine senior Rwandans 
subject to the Bruguiere arrest warrants, would likely join 
this and other potential legal filings, he said.  The 
generals sought a declaratory judgment nullifying the 
warrants, he added, and had named the governments of Belguim 
and France, as well as Jean-Louis Bruguiere, in the lawsuit. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Although noting, as he and other officials have on 
many past occasions, that Rwanda considered the French 
government to have been "against" the GOR for "many years," 
Karugarama said that "the door was always open" for political 
and diplomatic "efforts."  As, he said, the ICJ filing 
appeared to require no specific deadline for a response by 
the French government, the GOR anticipated no quick reply. 
"The French elections are in the way," he said, and Rwanda 
would wait for the new French government to organize itself. 
"We hope for a change in Africa policy," he said, "while 
expecting no great change." 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment.  Karugarama and the GOR are aware that 
several EU member states consider the French arrest warrants 
as automatically binding upon them, given internal EU 
consular and legal arrangements.  While the two generals' 
suit may be formally a private matter, we assume close 
coordination between the nine Rwandan officials sought by 
Bruguiere and the Rwandan government in the two legal 
filings.  We leave legal analysis of the two cases to experts 
in the field, but note that the GOR asserted itself on the 
eve of French elections -- perhaps hoping to influence the 
incoming regime.  End comment. 
ARIETTI