Bush Stopover In Rwanda Evokes Darfur

Yet activists say it has not been enough. "There is a lot about Darfur that all of us, the president included, should regret now," said Jerry Fowler, president of the Save Darfur Coalition. "Hopefully, the president shares our regret that there isn't a lasting peace and security in Darfur and that the Darfuri people continue to face violence and suffering."

So far, just 9,000 peacekeepers are on the ground and major military powers have yet to come up with needed helicopters. China has blocked sanctions at the U.N. Security Council. And Sudan continues to defy the international community as militias renew violence and burn down villages. "How can anyone have a clear conscience about what's happening in Darfur?" Fowler asked.

Many asked similar questions in April 1994 when this lush, green country known as the land of a thousand hills descended into a frenzy of death. The assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana, an ethnic Hutu, touched off a wave of violence against minority Tutsis and sympathetic Hutus. An estimated 800,000 people were killed over 100 days. With bodies still being found today, some put the toll as high as 1 million.

The president and first lady remained grimly silent as they made their way through the museum Tuesday, guided by its manager, Freddy Mutanguha, whose parents and four sisters were killed.

"The U.N. knew about what was going on in our country," he told the president.

"Powerful, powerful," Bush told him at the end of the tour.

The White House press corps headquartered for the day at the Hotel Des Mille Collines, made famous by the movie "Hotel Rwanda," which depicted a hotel manager who sheltered 1,200 from the violence. But the former manager, Paul Rusesabagina, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bush in 2005, was disappointed by the president's visit. In a letter to Bush, Rusesabagina complained that the current government in Rwanda, led by President Paul Kagame, a general in the Tutsi rebel force that toppled the Hutu government in 1994, has its own ties to mass killings.

A Spanish judge this month issued arrest warrants for 40 current or former members of the Rwandan military on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, although he did not indict Kagame because he has immunity as a head of state. "Mr. President," Rusesabagina wrote, "the whole world will be watching and wondering in disbelief why you have decided to go and shake the hands of suspected terrorists when fighting terrorism was one of the cornerstones of your outstanding presidency."

Rwanda's government has dismissed the judge's actions as unwarranted. Bush had nothing but praise for Kagame, calling him a "personal friend" as they signed an investment treaty.

He hailed Kagame for contributing the largest share of peacekeepers now in Darfur, where as many as 450,000 people have died, mostly from disease, starvation and dehydration caused or exacerbated by the attacks of Arab militias tied to Sudan's government.

Bush said he would share with his successor a lesson he has drawn from the crisis -- that the United States cannot stop genocide alone. "I would urge the president to treat . . . the leaders in Africa as partners," he said. "In other words, don't come to the continent feeling guilty about anything. Come to the continent feeling confident that with some help, people can solve their problems."