KIGALI - The Director of State Protocol, Rose Kabuye, will Friday head back to France to report in court on January 10 as earlier pronounced, Information Minister Louise Mushikiwabo confirmed yesterday.

Kabuye arrived home to a hero’s welcome on Christmas Eve last year after her bail terms were modified by a French court to allow her to leave French soil and celebrate Christmas with her family and friends at home.

"It (the January 10 court appearance) has not changed, she is leaving Kigali on Friday to be in France and in court on the agreed time,” Minister Mushikiwabo said, also stressing government’s firm and continued support for her.

"She enjoys all government support as a top government official,” said Mushikiwabo, who is also the government spokesperson.

Kabuye’s court battles were sparked off by her arrest in November last year in Germany over a warrant of arrest that was issued against her and other senior government officials by French judge Jean Louis Bruguière.

The warrants which were issued in 2006 stemmed from allegations that the officials, who were all members of the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA), played a role in the shooting down of the plane carrying former president Juvenal Habyarimana.

"Government will use all means possible to see that she get justice quickly,” Mushikiwabo said.

Kabuye’s arrest sparked mass protests almost on a daily basis by Rwandans both in the country and abroad for the entire period she was in Europe.

Mushikiwabo explained that though the case in court in Paris is a case against Rose Kabuye as an individual, but  the government’s position as earlier highlighted, is that Kabuye’s arrest and trial also implies that Rwanda as a nation is on trial.

The reason for this, as the minister stressed, is that Kabuye’s case is a result of "political manipulation” and thus, the nature of the case makes it "a case against our country – more of a national case.”

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