Rwanda remains sceptical of French efforts to deliver justice to the victims of the 1994 genocide, despite a suspect appearing in a Paris court this week, 20 years after the human catastrophe that left at least one million dead in just 100 days.

The trial came after many years of Kigali pushing Paris to either extradite over a dozen key genocide suspects who sought refuge in France, many of whom have since acquired French citizenship, or at least try them in its courts.

Pascal Simbikangwa, 54, a former head of military intelligence, appeared before a French court this week to answer charges of complicity in genocide and war crimes in the first ever such trial to be held on French soil.

READ: Landmark Rwanda genocide trial opens in France

Rwanda maintains that the Simbikangwa trial, though welcome, is just “a drop in the ocean” considering that there are dozens of genocide suspects roaming free on French soil.

Minister of Justice Johnston Busingye told The EastAfrican that the trial should not be seen as a case of France developing the will to try genocide cases but rather as raising the question of why it took Paris so long to commence the process.

“It is the international obligation of any country that signed the Geneva Convention to extradite or at least try any individuals on its soil suspected to have taken part in a crime of international magnitude such as genocide in any other part of the world,” said Mr Busingye.

Kigali and Paris have over the past 20 years disagreed on the issue of genocide suspects with the former accusing the latter of providing a safe haven to some of the most wanted genocide suspects, mainly those linked to the government and family of former president Juvenal Habyarimana.

Paris for its part argued that there were fears that the suspects would not get a fair trial once extradited to Rwanda.

However, attempts to address the issue of genocide suspects were clouded by politics related to the genocide and the events that led to the killings, with the Rwandan government accusing Paris of playing a role in the genocide while France on the other hand accused Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), the current ruling party, of igniting the killings.

Relations between the two countries reached breaking point in November 2006 when Rwanda expelled the French ambassador after Rwanda’s former director of state protocol Rose Kabuye was arrested following indictments issued by French Judge Jean Louis Bruguiere targeting top RPF commanders including President Paul Kagame.

In 2009, the two countries mended fences after President Kagame and his then French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy met, restoring diplomatic relations.

One of the commitments then made by France was to expedite the issue of the pending genocide cases.

READ: France and Rwanda progress on restored diplomatic ties

Mr Simbikangwa was a member of “Akazu,” the inner circle of people around president Habyarimana and is considered a “big fish.” If found guilty at end of the seven-week trial, he is likely to get a life sentence.

Positive signs

Beyond the court case, President Francois Hollande’s government has showed positive signs of wanting to mend relations with its former ally, continuing from where his predecessor Sarkozy left off.

Apart from fully restoring diplomatic ties, France has also shown that it can tolerate Rwanda’s demands and support its interests elsewhere.

France recently backed Rwanda’s efforts at the United Nations Security Council to recognise “genocide against the Tutsi” as the official reference of the 1994 genocide.

READ: UN decides it is officially ‘genocide against Tutsi’