Bush Honors Genocide Victims in Rwanda
By Ben Feller
Associated Press Writer
February 19, 2008
CBNNews.com - KIGALI, Rwanda - President Bush's upbeat tour of Africa shifted on Tuesday to the capital city of Rwanda, the site of haunting memories of the most grisly slaughter in modern times.
Bush and first lady Laura Bush arrived in the tiny central African country that is etched into memory for the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi minority and politically moderate Hutus. Over 100 days, roughly 800,000 people were shot, clubbed and hacked to death.
The country has stabilized under now-President Paul Kagame, whose rebel force toppled Hutu extremists and ended the genocide. Bush sees Kagame, Rwanda's first democratically elected president, as an ally and man of action, although the Rwandan leader is accused by critics of authoritarian ways.
At an arrival ceremony at Kigali International Airport, a boy and girl dressed in formal white clothes gave bright flowers to Mrs. Bush. The president and Kagame walked down a red carpet and stood on a platform as a military band played the U.S. nation anthem, and then watched as African dancers performed on the tarmac.
Bush is to witness a genocide memorial where more than 250,000 people are buried. His wife and daughter, Jenna, made an emotional visit to the memorial in 2005. The president has called the genocide one of the most horrific episodes of the 20th century.
Beyond paying respects, one of Bush's main purposes for visiting Rwanda is to praise the nation for its peacekeeping commitment in Sudan. He is expected to single out Rwanda for being the first to deploy peacekeepers to the violent Darfur region. The United States has trained nearly 7,000 Rwandan troops and spent more than $17 million to equip and move Rwandan troops into Sudan for service.
Frustrated by the slow pace of international peacekeepers in Darfur, Bush said in a pre-trip interview, "Other nations need to follow Rwanda's example."
On Air Force One en route from Tanzania, White House press secretary Dana Perino said that Bush will announce the availability of $100 million to train and provide equipment for African peacekeepers, who will deploy to Darfur. She said the money is available to several nations, and that Rwanda's share is $12 million, which will pay for 2,400 peacekeepers and equipment.
American aid has been the theme of Bush's stops so far in Benin and Tanzania, where he has been treated like a hero for his efforts to combat AIDS and malaria.
During his visit here, Bush also will praise Rwanda for its growing economy. Yet even with its sales of coffee and tea, and the tourists it draws to see rolling hills and rugged mountains, Rwanda remains deeply poor and dependent on foreign aid. Bush will sign an investment treaty with Rwanda, another symbol of U.S. commitment to sub-Saharan Africa.
"Although the economy has been doing very well and efforts on HIV have been remarkable, the political space and the democratization process has not gone forward," said Jennifer Cooke, an authority on Africa for the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington.
Rwanda also has its own troubled history in the conflict in neighboring Congo.
Part of Bush's aim is to urge Rwanda to end any support for armed groups in eastern Congo under a fragile peace accord the U.S. helped to broker. The Rwandan genocide spilled over into Congo, where a staggering 5.4 million people have been killed in years of war.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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