LONDON - The African Union's inability to end the fighting in Darfur echoes the West's failure to prevent the genocide in Rwanda 12 years ago, Rwanda's president said Tuesday during a visit to Britain.

President Paul Kagame said he could not understand why Darfur's humanitarian disaster continues even though the United Nations, the African Union and Sudan all have agreed the situation is serious.

"There has been a lot of dilly-dallying, a lot of sashaying, a lot of debate, similar to what happened in Rwanda," he said. "Why the Sudan, the AU and the U.N. have not decided how the intervention should be carried out raises more questions than I can answer."

Rwanda has contributed several thousand troops to the AU peacekeeping mission in Sudan's western Darfur region, but the violence there continues.

More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced since rebels from ethnic African tribes rose up against the Arab-led central government in the vast arid area that is roughly the size of Texas.

Khartoum is accused of using the janjaweed militias of Arab nomads to retaliate but the government denies backing or arming the janjaweed.

Kagame said Tuesday he does not want Western countries to take a more aggressive role in the region. While material and logistical help was welcome, he said, leadership roles should remain in African hands.

"It is always useful to have partnerships," he said, "but Africa should take the lead in handling these problems."