KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Thursday that the world and the United Nations failed Rwanda by not preventing the 1994 genocide of more than 500,000 people.
Annan, who is on his first trip to Rwanda since 1995, when he was still head of U.N. peacekeeping operations, was met at the airport by Foreign Minister Anastase Gasana and presented with flowers by several women in traditional white gowns.
Earlier, Gasana told reporters Rwanda expected an apology from him. Ibuka, an organization of genocide survivors, called for reparations.
More than 500,000 Rwandans, mostly minority Tutsis, were slaughtered in a three-month genocide orchestrated by Hutu extremists that began April 6, 1994.
The Tutsi rebels who ousted the Hutu government three months later stopped the genocide. But conflict continues between Hutu rebels and the Tutsi-led army.
The new government has condemned the United Nations for failing to heed warnings from Canadian Gen. Romeo Dallaire, commander of the U.N. forces in Rwanda at the time, that he suspected Hutus planned to exterminate Tutsis.
Acknowledging that difficult history, Annan said he was on a mission “to help heal the wounds and divisions that still torment your nation and to pledge the support of the United Nations so that once again we are a partner and an ally in Rwanda’s search for peace and progress.”