Moscow is courting fresh diplomatic and economic ties with African countries, and its expertise in nuclear power is seen as one of the major draws of closer ties.

"Rwanda needs nuclear energy," Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told AFP in an interview at the Russia-Africa forum taking place in the resort city of Sochi this weekend.

Hundreds of Rwandan students have graduated from Russian universities including "those who specialise in nuclear science," he said.

"We hope to be able to train a certain number of scientific managers specialising in this field," he added.

Rwanda, a small landlocked country with a population of around 13 million, generates around half its electricity from thermal sources, another 44 percent from hydro and four percent from solar.

Russia's Rosatom struck a deal in 2019 to help build nuclear power stations there.

Rwanda has also announced deals with a US firm and a German-Canadian company to build various small-scale nuclear power projects in the country.

South Africa is currently the only country in Africa with a commercial nuclear power plant.