By RFIPalled on 05-04-2019Modified on 05-04-2019 at 23:36

A diplomatic crisis that does not say its name brood between Berlin and Kigali? The two capitals are not very vocal in commenting on the premature departure of the Berlin ambassador to Rwanda. According to a German daily, this return could have a political background.

Was Peter Woeste too embarrassing for the Rwandan government? The German diplomat posted in Kigali since 2016 had regularly pleaded for the respect of human rights. He had appeared in public several times with the opposition of Paul Kagame, Diane Rwigara , recalls our correspondent in Berlin, Pascal Thibaut.

The ambassador returned prematurely to his country last weekend. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin and the government in Kigali do not comment on the reasons for Peter Woeste's premature return.

According to the German daily newspaper Die Welt it is a private email of the diplomat in which he expressed criticisms against Kigali who would explain this departure. The contents of this email and the way it has reached the Kigali authorities are not known.

But the Rwandan Secretary of State in charge of cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, replies that it is not a private mail that is at the origin of this situation, but a message sent to the German community in Rwanda.

That's not true, he was not deported because of a private email that was intercepted. Since he was recalled by his own government because of a message, not private, but sent to the German community in Rwanda, in which there was inappropriate language against the head of state.

Olivier Nduhungirehe

05-04-2019 - By Sonia Rolley

The Rwandan ambassador to Germany was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Berlin on Tuesday. No details were provided on this meeting. The parliamentary group of the Greens in the Bundestag wants to address a request to the German government to know more about the reasons for the premature return of Peter Woeste.

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