FOREIGN MINISTER BRIEF DIPLOMATIC CORPS ON RUPTURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIGALI 001133

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2016
TAGS: PREL KAWC RW
SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER BRIEF DIPLOMATIC CORPS ON RUPTURE
WITH FRANCE

REF: A. KIGALI 1130


B. KIGALI 1125

Classified By: Ambassador Michael R. Arietti, reason 1.4 (B/D)


1. (SBU) Summary. On November 25, Foreign Minister Charles
Murigande briefed the diplomatic corps on the GOR decision to
break relations with France and expel French diplomats from
Rwanda. The decision by a French judge to issue
international arrest warrants for nine senior Rwanda
officials (reftel) constituted an "attack" on Rwanda and an
attempt to "destroy" the Rwandan government, said the
Minister, leaving the GOR "no other option." The French
ambassador departed November 25, with the rest of the French
diplomatic contingent preparing for departure by Monday,
November 27. No demonstrations occurred in Kigali over the
weekend, and expatriates and Rwandans alike conducted their
affairs without restriction. Both the capital and countryside
are peaceful. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Briefing the diplomatic community, Murigande said
that once French-Rwandan relations had been "clarified" by a
full investigation into the French role during the 1994
genocide, a role which he characterized as one of complicity
and participation in the planning and execution of that
genocide, then dialogue could begin between the two
governments. "We want relations with France to be normal,"
he said, but only after the resolution of France's role in
1994 and before. He cited at length the French government's
military support for the militias and military of the
previous regime, before, during and after the genocide. He
alleged that the French government had "never accepted" a
Tutsi-led opposition that overthrew the previous Hutu regime.


3. (SBU) Murigande then reviewed at length relations between
the GOR and France since 1994, including what he described as
repeated attempts by the French government, particularly in
the years immediately after the genocide, to damage Rwanda's
standing in the international community and prevent Rwanda
from accessing resources to rebuild itself. The arrest
warrants for the nine senior Rwandans was only the latest
effort by France to hurt Rwanda, he said, and the decision to
break relations was not done in haste or solely because of
these warrants. Rather, this was the culmination of 12 years
of "negative" French conduct toward the current government of
Rwanda. Better now to break relations and "start fresh," he
summarized.


4. (SBU) In response to questions from the assembled
diplomats, Murigande said that individual French citizens
were welcome to remain in Rwanda. Private French citizens,
as well as French nationals employed by other diplomatic
missions or aid organizations, such as the European Community
(the majority of whose direct-hires are apparently French
citizens),were not at risk. The expulsion order applied to
French diplomats only. In addition to the French embassy and
French government aid programs, the French school and the
French cultural center would also be required to close, he
said. (Note: local broadcasts of Radio France International
have also been halted). While no decision had been taken as
to the which foreign mission might be named the Protecting
Power for consular and other matters, he anticipated a quick
decision (subsequently the GOR accepted the Belgian Embassy's
formal request that it be granted such status).


5. (SBU) The French ambassador departed Saturday night,
November 25. Other French diplomats busily packed bags and
prepared for their departure on Monday. A French employee of
the European Union told polchief that a "triage" had been
conducted by French embassy staff concerning their
possessions: "sell, take or leave with friends, those are
the options." One member of another mission purchased
fifteen hundred dollars of French champagne at discount
prices.


6. (SBU) Saturday November 25 and Sunday November 26 were
peaceful and incident free throughout the capital, with no
protests or demonstrations of any kind observed in Kigali.
The announced expulsion of the French diplomatic contingent
had no effect on the rest of the diplomatic community or the
expatriate community as a whole, and Rwandans and foreign
residents alike conducted their daily affairs without
restriction of any kind. For example, hundreds of
expatriates and Rwandans attended a long-scheduled Christmas
bazaar at a hotel in the heart of the city, including members
of the small French community.



7. (C) Comment. We leave the definitive exposition of
French government attitudes toward the GOR to our colleagues
in Paris, but locally the French Embassy has striven for some
time to project an atmosphere of cooperation and comity with
the Rwandans. Some of the rhetoric emanating from GOR
sources is clearly overheated, for example the repeated claim
that France wants to bring back the "genocidaires" and
reconstitute the former government. However, the essential
claim by the GOR that arrest warrants for the chief of
Rwandan armed forces and Rwandan army and other senior
military men and women, together with the recommended
prosecution of President Kagame, constitutes an attempt to
destroy the Rwandan government does not seem an unreasonable
interpretation. Removing the President and armed forces
chiefs by foreign judicial intervention would effectively
decapitate the GOR. This mission and other diplomatic
missions have stressed their noninvolvement in what is a
white-hot bilateral dispute. The capital and the countryside
are calm, and citizens and foreigners alike are free to
conduct their everyday affairs as usual. End comment.

ARIETTI