The French ambassador to Rwanda said Monday he has been barred from attending events marking the 20th anniversary of the genocide, amid a major diplomatic row surrounding France's controversial role in the events of 1994.

"Yesterday night the Rwandan foreign ministry telephoned to inform me that I was no longer accredited for the ceremonies," the French ambassador, Michel Flesch, told Agence France Presse.

Rwanda on Sunday told France to face up to the "difficult truth" of its role in the 1994 genocide, amid a major diplomatic spat on the eve of commemorations marking the 20th anniversary of the killings.

French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira pulled out of attending Monday's events after Rwandan President Paul Kagame repeated his accusation of French "participation" in the murder of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis.

Preparations in Rwanda Sunday for the commemorations for the 20th anniversary of the genocide were overshadowed by a major spat with France amid renewed allegations that Paris was complicit in the killings.

The French government announced that it was pulling out of Monday's events after Rwandan President Paul Kagame again accused France, an ally of the Hutu nationalist government prior to the 1994 killings, of having helped the murder of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis take place.

France on Saturday pulled out of the 20th anniversary commemorations for the Rwandan genocide after President Paul Kagame again accused Paris of "participating" in the 1994 mass killings.

Foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said France was "surprised" by Kagame's accusation, which went against reconciliation efforts between the two countries, and announced that Justice Minister Christiane Taubira would not attend Monday's commemorations in Kigali.

Pope Francis told a group of Rwandan Bishops Thursday that he still prays for the victims of the genocide in their country, as Kigali prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of the killings.

"I join with all my heart in mourning," the head of the Catholic Church told a meeting of nine Rwandan Bishops.

Rwandan doctor Charles Twagira was on Thursday charged in France over the 1994 genocide that claimed some 800,000 lives, a judicial source said.

Twagira was a head of the main hospital in Rwanda's western city of Kibuye at the time of the unrest.

Pascal Simbikangwa, the first Rwandan to be tried in France over his role in the devastating 1994 genocide, has appealed his 25-year prison sentence, his lawyers said on Tuesday.

The 54-year-old former army captain was sentenced on Friday after a landmark six-week trial that was closely watched in France, which was accused of failing to rein in the Rwandan regime at the time of the genocide that left 800,000 dead.

The Congolese army said Monday it had recaptured the eastern town of Lukweti, which a small ethnic rebel group had controlled and used as its headquarters for six years.

"We finally dislodged" Janvier Buingo Karairi, leader of the rebel Alliance for a Free and Sovereign Congo (APCLS), said a spokesman for the Democratic Republic of Congo's armed forces.

A French court sentenced a former Rwandan army captain to 25 years in prison over the 1994 genocide Friday, in a landmark ruling just weeks ahead of the massacre's 20th anniversary.

Pascal Simbikangwa, a 54-year-old former member of the Rwandan presidential guard, was found guilty of perpetrating genocide and of complicity in crimes against humanity.

A French court is due to deliver its much-anticipated verdict in the landmark trial of a Rwandan army captain accused of complicity in genocide on Friday, just weeks ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 1994 atrocity.

Prosecutors in the trial -- the first of its kind in France -- have asked for life imprisonment for Pascal Simbikangwa, branding him an ethnic "cleanser" who was "radically committed" to his work and a "man capable of the worst".