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Officials in France Arrest Widow of Ex-Rwandan Leader

   VOA News 02 March 2010
   Agathe  Habyarimana,  the  widow  of  Rwanda's  late President Juvenal
   Habyarimana (file photo)

Photo: AFP

   Agathe  Habyarimana,  the  widow  of  Rwanda's  late President Juvenal
   Habyarimana (file photo)

   Authorities  in  France  say  they have arrested the widow of Rwanda's
   late President Juvenal Habyarimana.
   They  say  Agathe Habyarimana was arrested south of Paris Tuesday on a
   Rwandan  warrant.   She  is  accused  of helping to plan Rwanda's 1994
   genocide.
   French  President  Nicholas  Sarkozy made a brief visit to Rwanda last
   week,  cementing renewed ties between the countries after a three-year
   break  in  diplomatic relations.  Mr. Sarkozy acknowledged that France
   and  the  rest  of  the  world made mistakes in failing to prevent the
   genocide, but he did not apologize.
   Rwanda  originally  cut  ties  with  France  in  2006,  after a French
   investigating  judge accused Rwandan President Paul Kagame of ordering
   the 1994 assassination of his predecessor, Mr. Habyarimana.
   Mr.  Habyarimana's  plane was shot down over Rwanda's capital, Kigali.
   The  event  is considered the spark for the Rwandan genocide, in which
   Hutu extremists killed about 800,000 people over 100 days.
   The  former  Rwandan  first  lady has lived in France for at least the
   past  12  years.   She  requested  political asylum but was repeatedly
   turned down.


   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

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