Rwandan widow loses refugee bid

President Juvenal Habyarimana's death sparked the genocide

A French appeals board has rejected the asylum request of the widow of Rwanda's ex-President Juvenal Habyarimana, whose death triggered the 1994 genocide.

She had appealed after her claim was turned down by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees last month.

The ruling comes several days after a French-based support group for victims of the genocide, CPCR, filed a law suit against Agathe Habyarimana.

It alleges she played a role in the mass killings, which she denies.

Mrs Habyarimana has said that she and her relatives have been made scapegoats for the killing of some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Mrs Habyarimana, 60, has been living in France since shortly after the genocide but only applied for political asylum in 2004.

Diplomatic row

Last month, Rwanda demanded that France arrest Mrs Habyarimana on charges that she was involved in the genocide.

Rwanda broke off relations with France last year in a row over the killing of Mr Habyarimana.

A French judge accused Rwanda's President Paul Kagame of ordering his assassination - charges he strongly denied.

The mass killings started immediately after the president's plane was shot down.

Rwanda has long accused France of having links to those who carried out the genocide and last year started an official enquiry into the allegations.

France denies involvement in the genocide and says its military intervention helped Rwandans.