KIGALI (AFP) – Canada's governor general said on Wednesday Canada had failed to act in the 1994 Rwanda genocide, during her state visit to the country.
"Speaking on behalf of all Canadians," Michaelle Jean said at a press conference in Kigali after meeting Rwanda's president, "we too have a wounded memory by what you have experienced."
"Canada does not hesitate to recognise its part of responsibility," said Jean, the representative of head of state Queen Elizabeth II, quoted on Radio Canada's web site.
"I think we could have made a difference, I think we could have limited the extent of the horror," she added.
Jean, who arrived Tuesday evening in the capital for a three-day state visit, went to the Gisozi memorial in Kigali dedicated to the 1994 genocide, when over 800,000 mostly Tutsis were killed, according to United Nations data.
In 2008, Jean said at the press conference, "Canada restated that the genocide resulted from the indifference and inaction of the international community".
It "seriously failed in its responsibility to help a population in danger", the governor general said.
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