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France issues Rwanda warrants France issues Rwanda warrants
(10 minutes later)
A French judge has issued international arrest warrants for nine close aides of Rwandan President Paul Kagame.A French judge has issued international arrest warrants for nine close aides of Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
They are accused of involvement in the 1994 shooting down of a plane carrying Rwanda's former president, a death which sparked genocide.They are accused of involvement in the 1994 shooting down of a plane carrying Rwanda's former president, a death which sparked genocide.
The judge has accused Mr Kagame of ordering the killing. He denies involvement and says the allegations are politically motivated.The judge has accused Mr Kagame of ordering the killing. He denies involvement and says the allegations are politically motivated.
More than 800,000 people died in the 100-day massacres.More than 800,000 people died in the 100-day massacres.
Under French law, Mr Kagame has immunity as head of state.Under French law, Mr Kagame has immunity as head of state.
The judge is investigating the case because the crew of the plane were French. Street protest
Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere is investigating the case because the crew of the plane were French and the families filed a case in France in 1989.
The judge has said that only Mr Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) forces had missiles capable of downing President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane.
Mr Kagame has denied this and has always accused France of having links to those who carried out the genocide.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) brushed aside suggestions from Judge Bruguiere that Mr Kagame should stand trial there.
"The prosecutor takes instructions from nobody in the world," said Everard O'Donnell, spokesman for the Arusha-based tribunal.
"The crash did not create the genocide," he said.
Mr Kagame has described that suggestions he was behind the assassination of the former president as scandalous.
"That some judge in France whose name I cannot even pronounce has something to say about Rwanda - trying a president and some government officials - that's rubbish," Mr Kagame said on Wednesday.
In the Rwandan capital, Kigali on Thursday some 10,000 people took to the streets in a government-organised protest at France's alleged complicity in the genocide.
Many carried placard reading "France genocidaire" and "France get out of Rwanda".