¡¡KIGALI, April 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Wednesday accused Western countries of adopting an indifferent attitude toward the 1994 genocide which claimed some one million lives in only 100 days.

    Addressing a public ceremony in commemoration of those victims in the Kigali National Stadium, Kagame said the United Nations hadits peacekeeping force in the country, but they did not stop the mass killing.

    The 1994 genocide is a tragedy for Rwanda, and it is also a huge failure of the international community in peacekeeping mission, he noted.

    On April 6, 1994, then Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana's plane was shot down by a missile when it approached the Kigali International Airport on its way home from Tanzania, where the president attended a regional peace conference, killing all peopleon board.

    Shortly after the air crash, Hutu soldiers and militia began a collective massacre of Tutsis and Hutus who were reluctant to killtheir Tutsi fellows. From April to July, around one million people,most of whom Tutsis, were killed.

    In his speech, Kagame said the Western powers had capacity to stop the killings, but they stood by with their arms folded. He accused the United States, Belgium and Britain of failing to stop the genocide.

    In particular, he slammed the French government for training and arming the Hutu army and militia, who later used brutal means against their Tutsi friends, neighbors, classmates or colleagues.

    Meanwhile, he praised the former Rwandan Patriotic Front soldiers, of whom he was a leader before winning the civil war in July 1994, for risking their own lives to liberate their fellow citizens.

    Kagame said progress has been made after the government began the implementation of national reconciliation in the wake of the genocide.

    "Every single day in the last 10 years has been a battle to us," he said, stressing that Rwandans can be the master of their own future.

    Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni,South African President Thabo Mbeki and other dignitaries attendedthe ceremony.

    In their speeches, they expressed their sorrow for those killedin the 1994 genocide, urging the international community to work out an effective mechanism for preventing such tragic events from happening again in the world and calling on Rwandans, Hutu or Tutsi, to join hands in rebuilding their country.

    On Wednesday evening, performances including singing and dancing will be given in the Kigali National Stadium in commemoration of those dead in the genocide and to express people's aspiration for peace. Enditem