Kigali, Rwanda: Rwanda President Paul Kagame on Tuesday slammed the cowardice of an international community that "abandoned" his people, 15 years on from the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 people died.

In a speech marking the anniversary, Kagame addressed nearly 20,000 people gathered at a symbolic location in Kigali, as survivors hissed at a "failure of humanity" and recounted fooling the butchers responsible for the orgy of violence by lying among dead bodies.

"We are not like those who abandoned people they had come to protect. They left them to be murdered. Aren't they guilty?" Kagame said of those who commanded the UN presence.

Rwanda declared a week of national mourning and Kagame placed a wreath at the hill site in Nyanza and lit a torch in memory of the victims, mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus killed across the small central African country by extremist Hutu militia during the 100-day wanton slaughter.

Kagame also led a symbolic burial of a victim's remains with the crowd marching past a monument to pay homage to all the genocide's victims.

Hundreds of suspects sought over their involvement in the killings are living in countries including Belgium, Canada, the Democratic Republic of Congo, France and Kenya.

Kagame, whose then Rwandan Patriotic Front rebel group took over in the aftermath of the genocide, has ruled the country since bringing an end to the massacre.

Rwanda's criminal investigations department has identified over 2,000 cases of murder, torture and intimidation of genocide survivors recorded since 2007.


Source : AFP