GERMANY: Chancellor Angela Merkel meets Rwandan President Paul Kagame, says situation for Zimbabweans after presidential election is "unbearable"

Record ID: 454535

  • Title: GERMANY: Chancellor Angela Merkel meets Rwandan President Paul Kagame, says situation for Zimbabweans after presidential election is "unbearable"
  • Date: 24th April 2008
  • Summary: (AD FLASH) BERLIN, GERMANY (APRIL 23, 2008) (REUTERS) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL AND RWANDAN PRESIDENT PAUL KAGAME ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE AT CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE REPORTER LISTEING (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL SAYING: "I pointed out the situation in Zimbabwe again because the situation for the people in my view is unbearable. We hope of course that everything is being done in Africa to improve the situation of the people and to come to a fair election result." REPORTER LISTENING NEWS CONFERENCE GERMAN, EUROPEAN UNION AND RWANDADN FLAGS ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) RWANDAN PRESIDENT PAUL KAGAME (ASKED ABOUT FDLR LEADER IGNACE MURWANASHYAKA) SAYING: "The German government and officials need to address this problem because Germany has been at the forefront in supporting the stabilisation process of our region and my country. In fact, recently, there was a resolution at the U.N. Security Council as to how to deal with these leaders and their activities in the stabilisation of Rwanda and the region. So, on one hand, people can't support a resolution and say there is a problem that we need to address and address it this way and then on the other hand, fail to take the actual measures to actually deal with what they have committed themselves to." CAMERA ON FLOOR (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL SAYING: "Let me add that we are looking very closely at the matter. The persons in question are under a U.N. sanctions regime. The bank accounts have been frozen, there are travel restrictions and -- I guess nuances can be argued about -- we are taking the U.N. sanctions very seriously." PHOTOGRAPHERS AT NEWS CONFERENCE MERKEL AND KAGAME SHAKING HANDS MERKEL AND KAGAME WALKING OFF
  • Embargoed: 9th May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA10RTHSXLJ3KUQUGDILVU4TUN9
  • Story Text: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin on Wednesday (April 23) that the situation for Zimbabweans after the presidential election was "unbearable" and called for a "fair result."
    Merkel was speaking at a joint news conference with Rwandan President Paul Kagame with whom she addressed the issue.
    Uncertainty increased in Zimbabwe over a disputed election as pressure intensified for results to be announced from a presidential vote more than three weeks ago.
    "The situation for the people in my view is unbearable,"
    Merkel said.
    "We hope of course that everything is being done in Africa to improve the situation of the people and to come to a fair election result," she added Asked to comment on the presence in Germany of Ignace Murwanashyaka, the leader of the Rwandan Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Kagame responded: "The German government and officials need to address this problem because Germany has been at the forefront in supporting the stabilisation process of our region and my country."
    Kagame said that "recently, there was a resolution at the U.N.
    Security Council as to how to deal with these leaders and their activities in the stabilisation of Rwanda and the region."
    "On the one hand, people can't support a resolution and say there is a problem that we need to address and address it this way and then on the other hand, fail to take the actual measures to actually deal with what they have committed themselves to" he added.
    Chancellor Merkel added that her government was indeed "looking very closely at the matter."
    "The persons in question are under a U.N. sanctions regime. The bank accounts have been frozen, there are travel restrictions and -- I guess nuances can be argued about -- we are taking the U.N. sanctions very seriously," Merkel said.
    The FDLR includes former Rwandan troops and Interahamwe militia who fled to Congo after carrying out Rwanda's 1994 genocide of some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
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