Laura Bush, Cherie Blair in Rwanda remember victims

KIGALI - US first lady Laura Bush and Cherie Blair, wife of the prime minister, paid tribute on Thursday to thousands who died in Rwanda's genocide and observed a moment of silence for London's bomb victims.

"I very much wanted to come here to see the reality of what happened during the genocide. I am very moved by what I have seen," Blair said after she and Bush laid wreaths at a site commemorating the 1994 Rwandan violence in which 800,000 people were killed in 100 days.

"It's very poignant for me to be here on this day. Back at home we are also remembering the dead that we lost so tragically last week," Blair said, referring to the July 7 London suicide bombings that killed 53 people.

The two women, joined by Rwanda's first lady Janet Kagame, observed one minute of silence in the Rwandan capital to remember the victims of the London attacks. The British capital came to a standstill at 12 noon (1100 GMT) in a tribute to those killed in the subway and bus bombings.

Rwanda's genocide ended when Tutsi-led rebels under the command of Paul Kagame, now the country's president, routed Hutu extremists and seized power.

The small museum recalling the genocide is located in a suburb of the Rwandan capital where an estimated 200,000 people were killed.

Burial chambers at the site contain the graves of tens of thousands of victims. Photographs of the victims are displayed on the walls and visitors can listen to some of their stories recounted in a video exhibit.

Glass cases display skulls, bones and the tools of violence -- crude knives, axes and machetes.

Bush wrote in the visitor's book: "This memorial serves as a tribute to the precious lives lost and a testament to the courage of those who survived. The people of the United States stand with the people of Rwanda as they build a hopeful future."

Bush and Blair came to Africa after their husbands and the other leaders in the Group of Eight industrialized nations pledged more aid to the continent last week at a summit in Scotland during which London was attacked.

Bush has visited programs to fight AIDS, help women become financially independent, and educate children in South Africa, Tanzania and Rwanda this week.

Earlier on Thursday Bush, accompanied by one of her twin daughters, Jenna, visited a two-classroom madrasa in Zanzibar. Bush, a former school teacher, announced donations of 20,000 books for schools in Zanzibar and Rwanda.

In Rwanda, she met orphans of the genocide and AIDS, and women officials who have taken on a greater role in their government since the genocide because so many men were killed.

"Some would call the tragedy in Rwanda unspeakable, but that is precisely the problem. Too few people around the world spoke out about what was happening here. Too few people recognized the scale of suffering," Bush said at a school.

 

- REUTERS