President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, bade Bernard Kouchner welcome and called him a "good friend."
However, the 1994 Rwanda genocide has put a strain on France's relations with the country, and Rwanda had cut diplomatic relations in 2006 after France had alleged that Mr Kagame was involved in the assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana in 1994.
The killing of President Juvenal Habyarimana had set off the genocide, and in it as many as 800,000 mainly Rwandan Tutsis lost their lives to the majority Hutus.
Paul Kagame, who is a Tutsi himself, had claimed that France backed the Hutu militias in 1994, although France was swift to deny this accusation.
However, Paul Kagame and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met for talks last December and decided to try and patch up relations between the two countries.
