SOUTH Africa on Sunday maintained its official silence on the reasons
for the sudden breakdown in relations with Rwanda and whether it
intended to up the ante in the tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats.
The
Department of International Relations and Co-operation had made no
official statement by last night, more than 48 hours after one of the
most serious diplomatic rows with another African country since 1994.
The
argument, reportedly over the hounding of prominent Rwandan political
exiles in South Africa, may have extended to neighbour Burundi, which
said at the weekend that one of its diplomats in Pretoria had also been
expelled.
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| Paul Kagame |
Rwanda-South Africa relations hit bottom when former
Rwandan intelligence chief Patrick Karegeya was found murdered in a
Sandton hotel on New Year’s Day. President Paul Kagame’s response was
that his government was not responsible but "no one will betray Rwanda
and get away with it".
As investigations continue, South Africa’s
security services tracked down the people believed to have raided the
Johannesburg home of exiled former Rwandan army head Kayumba Nyamwasa
last week, Reuters reported.
Three Rwandan embassy officials were
ordered to leave South Africa but Kigali raised the stakes on Friday,
expelling six of South Africa’s diplomats.
Rwandan Foreign
Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said on Twitter that her government was
retaliating and protesting "at South Africa’s harbouring of dissidents
responsible for terrorist attacks in Rwanda".
Diplomats in Pretoria were on Sunday waiting to see how President Jacob Zuma would react.
"A
lot is at stake for South Africa, which can’t allow foreign countries
to do what they want on its territory," said a senior European envoy.
Analyst
Koffi Kouakou said that after Mr Karegeya’s unsolved murder, other
attacks on Rwandan exiles in recent years and the raid on Mr Nyamwasa’s
residence, the South African government was obliged to take firm action.
Relations
between the two countries have been tense for years over the exiles and
also the Democratic Republic of Congo, where South Africa is seeking to
expand investment. Rwanda has accused its western neighbour of
sheltering armed groups of Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide in
which about 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus died.
Burundi
said on Saturday that South Africa had expelled Jean-Claude
Sindayigaya, the first secretary at its embassy in Pretoria. "We don’t
yet know the motive behind this decision," Foreign Minister Laurent
Kavakure told AFP. "We are waiting to know more before reacting."
With Reuters, AFP
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