Rwanda has cut diplomatic relations with France, reports reaching Nairobi said on Friday.

The African country has ordered the closure of the French embassy and ordered French ambassador to leave, which has been confirmed by the French side later Friday.

The diplomatic ties between Rwanda and France have been in a row over a French investigation into the events that sparked the 1994 genocide.

Kigali Friday recalled its ambassador to France because the French side insisted on the prosecution of President Paul Kagame over the death of his predecessor, Juvenal Habyarimana.

Habyarimana was killed in an air crash in 1994 along with Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira, swiftly triggering a three- month-long genocide in which Hutu extremists slaughtered some 1000, 000 people, mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Source: Xinhua