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Kigali, Rwanda | AFP

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame on Sunday said the international community had "failed" his country during the 1994 genocide, as he paid tribute to victims 30 years after Hutu extremists tore apart the nation.

"Rwanda was completely humbled by the magnitude of our loss. And the lessons we learned are engraved in blood," Kagame said in Kigali during a solemn ceremony to commemorate a 100-day massacre that claimed the lives of 800,000 people, largely Tutsis but also moderate Hutus.

President of Rwanda Paul Kagame (C L) and his wife Jeannette Kagame (C R) light a remembrance flame surrounded by heads of state and other dignitaries as part of the commemorations of the 30th Anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan genocide at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Kigali on April 7, 2024. (AFP)

"It was the international community which failed all of us, whether from contempt or cowardice," he said, addressing an audience that included several African heads of state and former US president Bill Clinton, who had called the genocide the biggest failure of his administration.

In keeping with tradition, the ceremonies on April 7 -- the day Hutu militias unleashed the carnage in 1994 -- began with Kagame placing wreathes on mass graves and lighting a remembrance flame at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where more than 250,000 victims are believed to be buried.

(From L to R) President of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, First Lady of Rwanda Jeannette Kagame and President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadera react in front of a wreath during the commemorations of the 30th Anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan genocide at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Kigali on April 7, 2024. (AFP)

The tiny nation has since found its footing under Kagame's rule, who led the RPF rebel militia which ended the genocide, but the scars of the violence remain, leaving a trail of destruction across Africa's Great Lakes region.

The international community's failure to intervene has been a cause of lingering shame, with French President Emmanuel Macron expected to release a message on Sunday saying France and its Western and African allies "could have stopped" the bloodshed but lacked the will to do so.

The assassination of Hutu President Juvenal Habyarimana on the night of April 6, when his plane was shot down over Kigali, triggered the rampage by Hutu extremists and the "Interahamwe" militia.