Frankfurt - Rwandan President Paul Kagame entered a German prison Tuesday to speak in a visiting area with his senior aide Rose Kabuye, who is being held on suspicion of murder.

She was upbeat and ready to face the French investigators, Kagame said after leaving the women's jail near Frankfurt.

Kabuye was arrested Sunday as she arrived in Germany to prepare for Kagame's arrival the following day.

The president was invited to Germany by the Frankfurt Stock Exchange company. Kagame gave a lecture to German business people Monday evening. He did not meet with German officials. Berlin says his visit is legally a private one.

Rwanda has protested at the arrest of Kabuye, who is a former mayor of the capital Kigali and heads the president's department of protocol. The Rwandans contend she enjoys diplomatic immunity while working for the president.

But German Foreign Ministry officials insist she arrived with an ordinary passport on a non-official visit. She was arrested on a warrant from France for questioning about the
1994 assassination of Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana.

Kabuye has agreed to a fast-track extradition from Germany to France. Appearing Sunday before a German judge, she denied the allegations of murder and membership in a terrorist organization laid against her.

Kagame said that in his opinion, her arrest was politically motivated. It had its origins in a long-standing conflict between his government and Paris. He said Rwanda did not agree with the actions of European authorities and considered them arrogant.

"They do it just because they are able to do it," he said.

Kagame also denied his aide's trip to Germany was private. He said she had been on an official duties as a presidential staffer.

In April she visited Berlin as part of Kagame's delegation.

German Foreign Ministry officials have said her membership in the delegation during an official visit then gave her diplomatic immunity.

A senior prosecutor said the state superior court in Frankfurt was likely to decide within days on the extradition. Since Kabuye did not object, it would be a mere formality. France has declined to comment on the case, saying it does not want to prejudice the inquiry.

Germany has not publicly confirmed or responded to the Rwandan protest, saying only that it was "in contact" with Rwanda over the matter.

A French magistrate suspects Kabuye and eight other Kagame staff of complicity in the death of Habyarimana, which triggered a frenzy of genocidal killing by his Hutu supporters that left 800,000 dead.

Magistrate Jean-Louis Bruguiere recommended in 2006 that a UN tribunal on genocide in Rwanda investigate Kagame himself. (dpa)