Rwandan President Paul Kagame launched a furious attack on Western countries on Thursday during an address to parliament after the arrest in Britain of the country's head of intelligence.

"Absolute arrogance and contempt is the only basis for this arrest," Kagame said in a speech that was also relayed on the government's official Twitter account.

"They must have mistaken him for an illegal immigrant. The way they treat illegal immigrants is the way they treat all of us. Black people have become targets for shooting practice. We cannot accept that people treat us this way just because they can."