30 years since Rwandan Genocide, President Paul Kagame Says World “Failed Us”

As he observed 30 years since the 1994 genocide that claimed the lives of almost 800,000 people, the president of Rwanda declared that the world community had “failed all of us”.

In Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, President Paul Kagame spoke to dignitaries and international leaders who had gathered to remember the slaughter. “Rwanda was completely humbled by the magnitude of our loss. And the lessons we learned are engraved in blood,” he stated.

Hutu extremists began a 100-day killing rampage on this day in 1994, slaughtering moderate Hutus as well as members of the Tutsi minority. Following the genocide, thousands of Hutus were allegedly slaughtered in Rwanda by mostly Tutsi troops in reprisal.

Around 250,000 dead are thought to be buried in mass graves at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where Kagame and a delegation of dignitaries laid wreaths on Sunday. A light of remembering was also lit by the president.

Later, during a speech, Kagame expressed gratitude to Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia for helping to stop the genocide and accept Tutsi refugees. “Many of the countries representing here also sent their sons and daughters to serve as peacekeepers in Rwanda,” he stated. “Those soldiers did not fail Rwanda. It was the international community which failed all of us. Whether from contempt or cowardice,” he further said.

How countries failed Rwandan Genocide?

A source of persistent embarrassment has been other countries’ inaction.

Among the foreign leaders present was former US President Bill Clinton, who referred to the genocide as the administration’s greatest failure.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that his nation and its allies could have prevented the massacre but lacked the resolve to do so in a video statement intended for the anniversary.

Prior to the killings, France, then led by President François Mitterrand, was a strong supporter of Juvenal Habyarimana’s Hutu-dominated government. Rwanda has accused France of missing warning signs and training the militias that carried out the attacks.