[JURIST] Rwandan Information Minister Laurent Nkusi said Thursday that the government of Rwanda has completed setting up a commission charged with investigating the 1994 assassination of then-Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana [Britannica profile]. The downing of the plane carrying the Hutu leader sparked the 1994 genocide [BBC backgrounder] in which more than 800,000 people were killed in the span of 100 days. Nkusi also said Rwanda intends to start a new investigation into the role France played in the 1994 genocide. Rwanda began a government probe [JURIST report] into the alleged French role in the genocide late last year.

Rwanda severed diplomatic ties [JURIST report] with France last year after a report filed by French anti-terrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere [BBC profile] implicated current Rwandan President Paul Kagame [official website; BBC profile] in the 1994 killing. Last year, Tutsi Kagame declared that France supported the 1994 genocide by providing Hutu militias with training and weapons. Kagame has denied any involvement in the downing of his predecessor's plane. Reuters has more.