Sarkozy in Rwanda on reconciliation visit
French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Rwanda on Thursday, hoping to improve relations which have been strained since the 1994 genocide. Earlier he visited Mali to promise France's support in the fight against Al-Qaeda after the release of French hostage Pierre Camatte earlier this week.
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Sarkozy is set to place a wreath on the monument to the victims of genocide in Kigali, before meeting President Paul Kagame.
This is the first visit by a French president since relations between Paris and Kagame's Rwandan Popular Front strained to breaking point during the civil war and massacres which preceded Kagame's taking of power.
Our reporter Michel Arseneault in Kigali
The two sides swapped accusations and counter-accusations over the genocide and action in conflict which swept the Hutu-dominated government from power.
Rwanda officially broke off relations in 2006 when French judge Jean-Louis Bruguière issued an arrest warrant for nine of Kagame's political allies, accusing them of being behind the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana.
In 2008 a Rwandan report accused about 30 French soldiers of involvement in the genocide of Tutsis and Hutus opposed to the government then in power.
Earlier in Mali Sarkozy promised a "determined struggle" against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which freed French hostage Pierre Camatte earlier this week.
He thanked President Amadou Toumani Touré for his role in winning Camatte's release after three months in captivity, adding that he had not forgotten the three Spaniards and two Italians still being held by the group.
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