German Ambassador given 24hrs to leave

President Kagame Tuesday paid a visit to the Director of State Protocol, Rose Kabuye at a detention facility in Frankfurt  Germany.

Kabuye was arrested on Sunday on arrival at Frankfurt International airport on an official visit.

The President was in Germany to deliver a keynote speech at the annual forum on the role of the private sector in economic development organised by the Frankfurt Business Community and Stock Exchange.

Kagame later told journalists that Kabuye was fine and she understood fully why she was being held. He said that the context under which she was being held could be clearly understood considering the RPF’s struggle against injustice.

He assured journalists that Kabuye was "psychologically prepared for what is to come.”

He clarified that Rose Kabuye had been arrested while on official duty in her capacity as protocol officer of the State, assigned by the government to make preparations for the President’s scheduled visit to Frankfurt and not on a private visit as reported.

The President later went on to Geneva, Switzerland where he is expected to address the opening of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Council today.

Meanwhile, the German Ambassador to Rwanda, Christian Clages was yesterday given 24 hours to leave the country in protest over the arrest which the government terms as "politically motivated.”

"We have asked him to leave until the issue is settled,” Rwanda’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rosemary Museminali, told The New Times ,Tuesday evening, insising that it was not a permanent move.

She also said that Rwanda’s envoy to Germany, Eugene Richard Gasana, had also been recalled for "consultations.”

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