Bush moves on after hero's reception in Tanzania

KIGALI (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, basking in ahero's reception from Tanzania, on Tuesday commemorates one ofthe darkest episodes in Africa's recent history, the Rwandangenocide.

Moving on from Tanzania, the centrepiece of his five-nationAfrican tour, Bush stops off briefly in Kigali, visiting amemorial to the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 Tutsis andmoderate Hutus were murdered by Hutu extremists.

It will be a sober interlude after Bush's three-day visitto Tanzania, where he was feted both by cheering crowds and thecountry's leader, Jakaya Kikwete, who praised the U.S. leaderand called him a friend of Africa.

Bush will visit a genocide museum where the remains of some250,000 victims are buried.

In the past, genocide survivors have criticised the UnitedStates for not intervening to stop the slaughter.

"There's nothing we can tell him -- we do not even plan onmeeting him because I am sure he knows about the plight ofRwanda genocide survivors," Theodore Simburudali, president theIbuka genocide survivor group, told Reuters.

In 1998, U.S. President Bill Clinton, who was in power atthe time of the genocide, visited Rwanda and apologised for notmaking more of an effort to stop the killings.

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, like the other presidentson Bush's tour, is seen by Washington as one of a newgeneration of progressive African leaders.

Bush, unpopular in much of the world for his handling ofwars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is respected in many parts ofAfrica, where he has spent more money on aid than Clinton.

He has pledged to increase total assistance to $8.7 billionby 2010, double 2004 levels.

BUSH LAUDED

Bush was lauded in Tanzania for his personal programmes tofight AIDS and malaria and for aid schemes that emphasiseself-reliance rather than unqualified assistance.

The president's Millennium Challenge Corp. fundsdevelopment in nations that meet criteria for good governance,fighting corruption and free market economic policies.

In Tanzania, which Washington considers a model of Africandevelopment, Bush signed over the largest ever grant under theprogramme, for $698 million.

After holding talks with Kagame, Bush will visit an AIDSproject before talking to Rwandan troops who have served inSudan's Darfur region as African Union peacekeepers.

"We feel proud because it's recognition of our contributiontowards bringing security and stability not only to Darfur butalso our region. The U.S government has been our strong partnerin this," army spokeswoman Jill Rutaremara told Reuters.

The United States has helped train and transport Rwandantroops serving in Darfur, where Washington says genocide hasoccurred during five years of violence in which internationalexperts say 200,000 have died.

The Sudanese government denies this, saying only 9,000 havedied.

Bush is not visiting Kenya, despite being next door inTanzania and Rwanda, but he sent Secretary of State CondoleezzaRice there on Monday to help former U.N. chief Kofi Annan toend a post-election crisis that has killed 1,000 people.

Rice called on government and opposition to accelerate apower-sharing deal and said there could be no "business asusual" with Kenya until the crisis ended.

Bush travels to his fourth stop, Ghana, on Tuesday evening.

(Writing by Barry Moody)