Michel Flesh, the French ambassador, was banned by Rwanda from attending ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the 1994 genocide.
Flesch said the Rwandan government telephoned him late Sunday night informing him that his invitation had been withdrawn. "Yesterday night the Rwandan foreign ministry telephoned to inform e that I was no longer accredited for the ceremonies," Flesch told Agence France-Presse, Monday.
The move comes after France pulled out of the ceremonial events following Rwandan President Paul Kagame's accusations that France and Belgium (Rwanda was a Belgian colony) had direct involvement in the 1994 genocide. Christine Taubira, justice minister of France, was expected to attend the commemoration ceremonies Monday in the Rwandan capital Kigali. But instead France decided to send only Flesch.
In an interview with Paris-based weekly, Jeune Afrique, Kagame said that both the countries played a political role in the mass slaughter of members of the ethnic Tutsi group. He also blamed the French-led Operation Turquoise soldiers of being accomplices and participants in the massacre.
Reacting to the strong remarks the French foreign ministry announced in a statement that Taubira would not take part in the events "under these conditions."
According to Carina Tertsakian, a senior researcher on Rwanda and Burundi for Human Rights Watch in London, France and Rwanda share a complicated relationship. "The whole of the international community bears a responsibility for not stopping genocide in 1994, but France's responsibility went beyond that because it had supported the previous government that perpetuated the genocide and had trained their soldiers," she told The New York Times.
France repeatedly refuted the accusations made by Rwanda whereas Belgium apologized for its failure to stop the genocide.
After France announced its pullout from the ceremonies, Rwanda's Foreign Affairs Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said it was difficult for the two countries to move forward if Rwanda is told to forget its history in order to improve ties with France. She also told France to face the "difficult truth."
"For our two countries to really start getting along, we will have to face the truth, the truth is difficult, the truth of being close to anybody who is associated with genocide understandably is a very difficult truth to accept," Mushikiwabo said, reports allAfrica.
Meanwhile, the official mourning for those who died in the genocide began three months ago. A flame of commemoration touring various regions across Rwanda ended Monday with the arrival of the torch at the national genocide memorial, where the remains of at least 800,000 people killed in the massacre lay. Kagame lit the torch that will burn for 100 days, the time frame that the genocide lasted, reports AFP. Ban ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary General, also joined Kagame in lighting the torch.
Thousands of people are expected to participate in an evening candlelight ceremony at Kigali's main sports stadium to mark the 20 years of the genocide.
