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REUTERS: Thursday March 23 7:42 AM ET

 Rwanda's President Bizimungu Resigns

   By Jean-Baptiste Kayigamba

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda's President Pasteur Bizimungu, who had
been in power since the end of the country's 1994 genocide,
resigned on Thursday after falling out with leading members of his
ruling party.

Political observers said Bizimungu, an ethnic Hutu, had clashed
with colleagues in the ruling Tutsi-dominated Rwanda Patriotic
Front (RPF) over the make-up of a new cabinet which was announced
on Sunday.

He had also criticised parliament over a recent probe into
official corruption, which has led to the resignation of a number
of ethnic Hutus and opposition politicians from his coalition
government.

From today, March 23, 2000, I resign from the post of president of
the Republic of Rwanda,'' Bizimungu said in a terse statement,
without giving any further
details.

The RPF formed a government of national reconciliation which
sought to embrace both ethnic groups after the genocide of
hundreds of thousands of minority Tutsis by Hutu extremists.

But several Hutus have since quit the government and last month
Pierre Celestin Rwigema, another Hutu, resigned as prime minister
after parliament accused him of corruption.

Most of the power in Rwanda rests with Vice-President Paul Kagame,
a Tutsi who is also chairman of the RPF. Rumors have been rife in
Kigali for months about strained relations between Kagame and
Bizimungu.

On Monday, Bizimungu launched a stinging attack on the central
African country's parliament, saying it had been partisan in its
corruption investigations and ignored powerful Tutsi politicians.

The speech was unusually not carried on state-run radio or
television, and parliament had convened an emergency session for
later on Thursday to discuss Bizimungu's attack.

The Speaker of the National Assembly Vincent Biruta will replace
Bizimungu until another president is selected.

There is no crisis whatsoever,'' RPF secretary general Charles
Muligande told Reuters.

Muligande said the RPF political bureau would meet on Friday to
nominate two candidates for the presidency, who would then be
chosen by a joint session of parliament and the cabinet.

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