Rwanda’s leader is concerned over perceived US ambiguity about victims of the 1994 genocide

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA and IGNATIUS SSUUNA
Associated Press

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Rwandan President Paul Kagame says he’s concerned by what he saw as a U.S. failure to characterize the 1994 massacres as a genocide against the country’s minority Tutsis. Kagame told reporters that the issue was an “element of discussion” in talks with former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who led the American delegation to a ceremony Sunday commemorating the 30th anniversary of the genocide in which Hutu extremists slaughtered about 800,000 people most of them Tutsis in a government-orchestrated campaign. Many Rwandans criticized U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for failing to specify that the Rwandan genocide targeted the Tutsis when he wrote late Sunday: “We mourn the many thousands of Tutsis, Hutus, Twas, and others whose lives were lost during 100 days of unspeakable violence.”