Survivors of the genocide in Rwanda buried 20 coffins filled with the remains of victims in a ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the atrocity in the central African country.

The ceremony marks the beginning of a week of mourning to commemorate the 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu who were killed by the Hutu majority in 1994.

Paul Kagame lights a flame in Kigali, Rwanda to mourn victims of the genocide. (AP photo)
Paul Kagame lights a flame in Kigali, Rwanda to mourn victims of the genocide. (AP photo)

President Paul Kagame, whose rebel force ousted the government responsible for the killings, placed a wreath on the last coffin before it was lowered into the grave.

In the courtyard of the new Kigali National Memorial Centre, Kagame lit a flame, which will burn for 100 days in symbolic recognition of the 100 days of government-ordered slaughter.

Kagame told the visiting heads of state from around the world that Rwanda stands on guard for other nations should a similar situation arise.

Roméo Dallaire
Roméo Dallaire

"God forbid ... when that duty calls to protect people who are caught up in a genocide, please enlist us," he said.

Then Kagame turned his focus on France, accusing its government of standing by and doing nothing as the people of his country were slaughtered.

"They knowingly trained and armed government soldiers and militia who were going to commit genocide and they knew they were going to commit genocide," Kagame said.

"They deliberately designed a strategy to protect the killers and not the victims."

In Paris, French officials denied the allegations. They insisted their troops helped stop the killing. French President Jacques Chirac and Foreign Ministry officials observed a moment of silence on Wednesday in memory of those who lost their lives.

Apologies and money not enough

Retired Canadian general Roméo Dallaire, who was in charge of the small UN peacekeeping forces during the genocide, was in Kigali on Tuesday. He tried to explain why his contingent could not do more to stop the genocide.

"You, me, my forces, were abandoned by our own countries and the international community," he said.

"There exists no country today that, 10 years later, has the right to wash its hands of Rwandan blood, by simply saying 'sorry' and giving money. It comes back to Rwandans to make sure they never forget they are criminally responsible, I will use the term, criminally responsible for the genocide."

Dallaire also pointed the finger at France but included Britain, the United States and all permanent members of the UN Security Council for blocking his attempts to strengthen the peacekeeping force.

"The Rwandan genocide happened because the international community – if I may be brutal, as the genocide was – didn't give one damn for Rwandans because Rwandans don't count. Rwanda is of no strategic value to anybody, and has no strategic resources," Dallaire said.