The British and U.S. first ladies were headed to Rwanda Thursday to remember that nation's genocide and try to learn from it., AP reported. Laura Bush, the wife of U.S. President George W. Bush, was closing out a weeklong trip through Africa. She and Cherie Blair, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, were to lay wreaths Thursday at the genocide memorial at Gisozi in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. Some 250,000 genocide victims are buried at Gisozi, one of the many hills that dot Kigali. Their graves and a long granite wall engraved with their names have become a somber first stop for many visitors to Rwanda, where Hutu militias and civilians killed nearly half a million minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994. «I look forward to talking with both the first lady of Rwanda, as well as the president of Rwanda, about what the rest of the world can do in situations similar to this, like in Darfur, and see what they think is the best way for the world to help in situations like their genocide,» the U.S. first lady told reporters Wednesday. Her husband has on several occasions termed the violence in the western Sudanese region of Darfur a genocide. But he supports African peacekeepers on the ground, not the introduction of U.S. troops. The U.S. is providing logistics so the African Union can more than triple its peacekeeping force in Darfur. --mor 1421 Local Time 1121 GMT
