In August, the arrest of two Rwandan genocide suspects in France was welcomed in Kigali as a belated but important step towards normalizing relations. Rwanda broke off diplomatic ties with France late last year after a French judge called for the prosecution of senior Rwandan officials, including the president, on charges of involvement in the plane attack that killed then Rwandan President Habyarimana. However, even as the new French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner spoke of visiting Rwanda in the near future, a French appeals court ordered the release of the two men, arguing the arrest warrants issued by the International criminal tribunal for Rwanda could not be executed because it was an infringement of the right to be presumed innocent.
