Monday, March 01, 2010

President Sarkozy says RFI will resume in Rwanda

Nicolas Sarkozy, on the first visit to Rwanda by a French head of state since the 1994 genocide, "said that Radio France International would begin broadcasting in Rwanda this year." Anjan Sundaram, New York Times, 25 February 2010.
"The troubles of Radio France International (RFI) started months before relations between Kigali and Paris were severed. On June 10, 2006, then RFI reporter in Kigali, Sonia Rolle,y was ordered out of the country by government for allegedly conducting activities outside her accreditation. The signal of RFI was switched off after the French embassy was closed and the diplomats sent packing. With the situation improving between the two capitals, Ambassador Contini revealed to RNA that RFI could come back on air as soon as next week. He said the remaining issues are mainly technical." Rwanda News Agency, undated but recent.
(Kim Elliott/IB)