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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIGALI 000802 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KJUS FR RW
SUBJECT: RWANDA AND FRANCE RESTORE DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS THE 
DAY AFTER RWANDA ADMITTED TO BRITISH COMMONWEALTH 
 
KIGALI 00000802  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador W. Stuart Symington for reasons 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 ¶1.  (C) Summary:  The Governments of Rwanda (GOR) and France 
(GOF) announced November 29 that they had agreed to restore 
fully diplomatic relations between the two countries. 
Relations were ruptured in November 2006 after a French judge 
indicted senior GOR officials on charges - vehemently 
rejected by the GOR - that the officials had taken part in 
the plane shoot down that triggered the Rwandan genocide. 
The Minister of Information told the DCM the news personally, 
but early reports caught off guard even some senior GOR 
officials in the Presidency and Foreign Ministry.  The 
resumption of relations came the day after the British 
Commonwealth voted to admit Rwanda to its ranks.  Rwanda is 
only the second country (after Mozambique in 1995) to become 
part of the Commonwealth without having had any prior 
colonial or constitutional ties to Britain. There are eight 
other largely francophone countries in the Commonwealth, most 
of them islands.  The critical question for many is what, if 
anything, does this mean for the status of the French 
indictment against GOR officials.  That issue is uppermost in 
the minds today of the Rwandans involved, the Rwandan public, 
and those European ambassadors here whose countries have 
earned Rwanda's ire by enforcing the French warrants.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) GOR Minister of Information told DCM November 29 that 
the GOR and GOF had agreed to restore diplomatic relations. 
The announcement caught many off guard, even if a new French 
Ambassador is not named in two weeks, as one local report 
predicted.  When one European ambassador asked a Rwandan 
Presidency official if it were true, the contact first 
dismissed the idea as a rumor before confirming it minutes 
later.  A ForMin official told another European ambassador it 
was not true and then also quickly reversed himself after 
checking.  The Minister of Communications told us that the 
timing of the announcement had nothing to do with Rwanda's 
Commonwealth entry, but reflected a successful end to months 
of efforts by very senior GOR and GOF officials to find a way 
to restore relations and deal with the ongoing legal 
investigation into the 2006 indictments of senior GOR 
officials by a French judge that was the cause of Rwanda's 
decision to sever relations. 
 
¶3.  (C) The decision followed within the week the arrival 
here of a three-person team of French judicial investigators, 
reportedly looking into the shoot down of former President 
Habyarimana's plane that was the trigger for the genocide.  A 
number of witnesses to the purported role of GOR officials in 
that action have recanted in the past 12 months greatly 
weakening the French case.  The GOF had reportedly told the 
Qweakening the French case.  The GOF had reportedly told the 
GOR that the investigation of the case "would be reopened" 
earlier this year and the arrival of the French judicial 
investigators appears to confirm that approach.  There has 
been no indication of any change in the status of the pending 
GOF indictments, though that issue remains uppermost in the 
minds of many here.  The outcome of the new investigation of 
those indictments is a key concern to the Rwandan officials 
involved, to Rwandan public opinion - particularly the 
elites, and to the resident European Union diplomatic 
missions here.  (Public anti-French and anti-German feelings 
were inflamed last year by official denunciations following 
the arrest of Chief of Protocol Rose Kabuye in Germany on the 
French warrant.  This led to a temporary "suspension" of 
Rwanda's relations with Germany.) 
 
¶4.  (C) Comment:  The decision to resume diplomatic relations 
with France underscores Rwanda's intent to involve the 
broadest possible coalition of international partners in 
Rwanda's development.  That is reflected by Rwanda's 
continued membership in the International Organization of 
French speaking Nations (OIF, "la francophonie") and its 
continued outreach to the UK and other EU nations as well as 
U.S., Chinese, Indian, and regional development partners. 
 
KIGALI 00000802  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
The announcement that relations would be restored followed 
the early morning arrival in Kigali on November 29 of French 
Presidency Secretary General Gueyant on a direct French 
government flight.  One EU ambassador said that the decision 
reflected France's long-standing desire to renew its presence 
in what had been its long time "hunting preserve," but 
dismissed a BBC report that suggested the resumption of 
relations was timed simply to coincide with the Rwandan entry 
into the Commonwealth.  The British ambassador (protect) 
agreed with his colleague.  The soon to be High Commissioner 
downplayed the timing and noted that there were already eight 
other francophone members in the Commonwealth.  (Note:  The 
British ambassador added, however, that the Rwandan entry was 
very significant.  He stessed that Rwanda was the first new 
member since 1995 and the first to have undergone and passed 
what he described as a precedent-setting comprehensive review 
of governance and policy matters in order to qualify for 
admission to the Commonwealth.  End Note)  A third EU 
Ambassador put the timing down to the GOF interest in 
assuring President Kagame's attendance at a French-hosted 
economic development summit slated for early next spring. 
The announcement yesterday serves both French and Rwandan 
interests in accelerating together the private sector-driven 
growth of Africa.  The decision to restore relations with 
France was so closely guarded in part because - before it 
became a "fait accompli" - it might have faced strong 
internal opposition from members of Kagame's own power base, 
many of whom are still leery of France and resentful of the 
French role before, during, and after the genocide.  Those 
who share that view are not likely to be fully assuaged 
unless, as part of his new approach to Africa, President 
Sarkozy joins the ranks of those who have apologized for 
their countries' roles in 1994.  End Comment. 
 
SYMINGTON