Sarkozy’s visit ushers in a new phase in Rwanda-France relations

President Sarkozy, who inherited the bitter recriminations of two former French presidents with the current government in Kigali was the first French President to openly and positively speak of Rwanda after the 1994 genocide.

Last year during his visit to Africa, he praised Rwanda for its input in what he called a “new momentum” in a co-operation between the DRC and Rwanda in resolving the conflict in the troubled Great Lakes region.

Rwandan and Congolese troops had earlier joined forces in pursuit of the predominately Hutu extremist FDRL rebels in the Kivu region.

There is optimism that President Sarkozy’s visit would mark a major milestone in the history of both countries and would fully restore ties between the two countries.

Kigali is also expected to push the French justice system to extradite all genocide fugitive harboured in France or bring them to book.

President Paul Kagame confirmed in a press conference that his French counterpart will be visiting on February 26.

He will thereafter visit Gabon, Egypt, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea and Ethiopia among other African countries.

The French Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner who was in Kigali recently said President Sarkozy was meant to visit Kigali by the end of February.

Mr Kouchner was in Rwanda to pave the way for the opening of the French diplomatic mission and the French Cultural Centre after they remained closed for over three years since the time Kigali cut off all diplomatic relations with Paris.

Mr Sarkozy’s visit to Rwanda will be the first of a French President in the country’s post-Genocide era.

The French posted Laurent Contini, a former political adviser to the European Union, with vast knowledge in the Great Lakes region as the envoy to Kigali and Rwanda appointed Jacques Kabare as the new envoy to France.