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Western leaders ignore 10th anniversary of Rwandan genocide
02 Apr 2004
 By Finbarr O'Reilly

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•  Rwanda legacy

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KIGALI (Reuters) - Western leaders were conspicuously absent from a list of foreign dignitaries scheduled to attend memorial ceremonies in Kigali next week marking the tenth anniversary of Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

Some 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates were shot, hacked and clubbed to death in 1994 by Hutu extremists during 100 days of butchery that was initially ignored by world leaders.

With the exception of Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, only African leaders have so far confirmed they would attend memorial events planned for April 7, when the tiny central African country will remember its legions of dead.

Among those confirmed to attend is Sudan's Omar al-Bashir, whose government was recently accused by a senior U.N. official of carrying out systematic killings of villagers in ethnic attacks reminiscent of the Rwandan genocide.

"We invited the whole world and anyone who wants to share our reflections, we invite them to be here," Robert Bayigamba, Rwanda's Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture, told journalists at a news conference in response to questions about Omar al-Bashir's expected presence at the anniversary.

ANNAN - "I COULD HAVE DONE MORE"

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who was head of peacekeeping operations at the world body during the 1994 massacres, will not attend Rwanda's memorial, said Bayigamba, whose ministry is overseeing next week's events.

Annan last week accepted institutional and personal blame for not doing more to prevent the Rwandan slaughter, saying, "I realised after the genocide that there was more that I could and should have done to sound the alarm and rally support."

Heads of state expected to visit Kigali on April 7 include South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, Kenya's Mwai Kibaki, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, Chad's Idriss Deby.

The list would be updated if other dignitaries confirmed they were coming, Bayigamba added.

The United States, which has come under fire this week for avoiding the use of the word "genocide" for fear it would spark a call for action Clinton administration officials were loathe to take, will be represented by Pierre-Richard Prosper, the U.S. ambassador at large for war crimes.

France has yet to announce who it will send to Rwanda following weeks of heightened tensions between the two countries over each other's role in the genocide.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has accused France of "direct" involvement in the genocide in response to a French judge's report blaming him for ordering the downing of a plane carrying former President Juvenal Habyarimana which triggered the genocide.

Relations between France and Rwanda's Tutsi-led government have been strained ever since.


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