French judges hold Habyarimana inquiry in Rwanda

President Juvenal Habyarimana's death triggered 100 days of ethnic violence in Rwanda

story by BBC

A French legal team has arrived in Rwanda to begin a week-long inquiry into the killing of President Juvenal Habyarimana 16 years ago.

The plane carrying Mr Habyarimana was shot down in April 1994, triggering the Rwandan genocide in which more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died.

An earlier French investigation blamed forces close to current President Paul Kagame, and caused Rwanda to break off diplomatic ties with France in 2006.

Relations were restored last year.

Two French judges and 17 other legal experts have arrived in Rwanda for the inquiry.

The Rwandan justice minister told the BBC that investigators would receive the full co-operation of the Rwandan authorities.

Mr Habyarimana - a Hutu - was flying into the capital Kigali with his Burundian counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira when a missile brought the plane down, killing all on board.

The French crew of the plane also died, leading to the French investigation.

The team of investigators will try to determine where the missiles were fired from as a possible clue to who was behind the attack.

In January this year a Rwandan government inquiry concluded that Hutu extremists were behind the assassination, using it as an excuse for the mass killing of Tutsi rivals.