Rwanda’s exiled King Kigeli Ndahindurwa V can only return to the country as an ordinary citizen but not as a constitutional monarch as some Rwandans may want, President Paul Kagame has said.

"You are trying to make him more important than he is," Mr Kagame told journalists in Kigali on Monday.

"He (Ndahindurwa ) should come back from exile as an ordinary citizen and we shall welcome him. If he does not welcome that option, then he should remain wherever he is," Mr Kagame said.

President Kagame’s remarks come at a time when King Ndahindurwa, the man who ruled Rwanda until he was overthrown in 1959, has renewed demands to return home for the first time in 48 years.

However, he says he can only return if the Rwandan people accept him as a constitutional monarch.

Speaking in the U.S., King Ndahindurwa, now 72, recently told BBC Radio that he had discussed the idea with President Kagame who he claimed told him he was willing to consult his government on the issue.

Referring to a meeting he had with Mr Ndahindurwa in the US in 1996 in the presence of Rwandan Ambassador in Washington Theogene Rudasingwa, Mr Kagame said he made his views clear at the time.

"I asked him why he doesn’t want to return home but he said he can only come back as a king and I asked him whether he is king in Washington D.C," said Kagame.

The President said he assured Mr Ndahindurwa at the time that he (Kagame) has no powers to reinstate him.

He said the powers lay in the hands of Rwandans.

However, Mr Kagame said given the historical significance and importance of the kingship, the government had promised to cater for Mr Ndahindurwa’s welfare and security.

"I told him that when he makes up his mind he should call the Rwandan ambassador in the U.S. The bottom line here is that he should come back and convince Rwandans to put him back into power as king and if they agree then we shall have no problem with that," Mr Kagame said. However, the President said as someone who had fought to liberate the country and made sacrifices, he doesn’t believe in monarchies but democratically elected leaders.

King Ndahindurwa was the last of a line of absolute monarchs who ruled the kingdom of Rwanda until self-rule from Belgium in the late 1950s.

The royal family was from the Tutsi minority - but the Belgians favoured the Hutu majority and in 1959, while King Ndahindurwa was abroad, the Belgians organised a coup and deposed him.

"For him (Ndahindurwa) to wait for my answer whether he should return as king is none of my business. I was not among those that dethroned him and therefore have no authority and obligation to re-instate him," Mr Kagame said.

The Monitor