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it didn't make sense, two ethnic groups were locked in a spas g of blood leading. tensions between the majority hutus, and the minority tutsis burst into full flame. it was not mass murder using modern tools much airplanes, poisonings or automackic wep -- automatic weapons. no, they were killed by people in front of them, taunting them. the world response was slow, disorganised, half-hearted. for 20 years rwandans argued about how and why they killed each other in breath taking numbers, and the world argued about how it was allowed to happen. of state and foreign dignitaries

joined rwandans of all kinds commemorating events in the capitol. wailing was heard as some were overwhelmed with e motion. the mass rememberance of loved ones lost and the unified recognition of this african nation's darkest time was unimaginable 20 years ago when ethnic rivalries turned neighbor against neighbor in a grotesque rampage of cornage and murder. heal. >> to our parents, children, brothers and sisters survived, who defied the call to genocide and laws to be a voice it is you for our history.

we have pursued justice and reconciliation as best we could. between april and july, stackers entered homes, killing children, elderly, entire families, anyone who stood in their way. ethnic hutan rerhondans set a cleansing of the rivals, the tutsi minority. churches were burned with hundreds of tutsies inside. encouraged by radio hosts who called them cockroaches who should be exterminated, spell spun into such violence, the u.n. forces couldn't stop it and the world just watched in horror.

the ethnic group and their hutu sympathizers were killed. the killing sent tens of thousands of hutus and tutsies fleeing into neighboring nations, causing disruptions in those places that are still sources of conflict today. it was paul who led the military force from neighboring uganda to stop the genocide 20 years ago. he became president in 2000 and has led his country in an economic and sew site al rebirth. it's still a poor country in the last five years, the economy has grown an avenue of 8% per year reducing child mortality by 70%. rwanda hopes to be a tech driven power. a thousand miles of fiber optic cables and last year signed a deal to cover 95% of the country

with a 4g network. no one disputes how far the country has come economically in recent years and the elth nick violence that tore the country apart is a thing of the pass but the president's critics say he rules with an iron fist cracking down on internal dissent and supported rebel groups in neighboring congo. back at the ceremony, the secretary general of the united nations reminded everyone of the world's indifference 20 years ago. the silence in your hours of greatest need. united nations workers showed bravery. we could have done much more. we should have done more. >> why the world failed to act is a question being answered in the wider context of an africa

tensions. what can be learned from rwanda as it moves away from the dark past. rwanda 20 years after genocide on this edition of the program. why it happened, how it happened, and what its meant to the world this time on "insid story." joining us from richmond, is a member of the tutsi ethnic group who witnessed the genocide. welcome to insi"inside story." when did you realize something was going wrong in your society? was it something that people even realized at happening? >> basically, it was not to long before i know that something was wrong. but for the genocide, itself, i knew these on the 7th of april

and that's when i find out that the killing is happening in every corner of the country. >> that's when i find out that i had to move somewhere. >> for a long time, people have talked about this as being sparked by the death of the hutu president when his plane was shot down. after that happened, when the plane crashed, did people like yourself worry? was there a tension in the country before people started kill no. it's not true. the death of javier maner, i believe is not the cause of the genocide. this is not one day reparition. the implements were used, the

training of the hutu civilians, all of those preparations had been way before the death of javier manar. so, if you look at the event by ent, you know that the killing, the planning of the killing of tutsis was in the plan for a long time. i believe since in the -- in the '80s, you know, you can tell that the genocide was coming. >> did people not immediately flee because they just couldn't believe that their own neighbors, the people they knew in their own towns were going to try to kill them? >> that was the confusion because it was not clear how, you know, neighbors and husband and wife and kids can turn around and kill their loved ones and friends.

and people from church. and nurses and doctors. they all turn in one minute and killer. so that's where people were not really prepared for because we didn't understand how bad this preparation was because it was in secret, and we did not have tutsies in the army. we did not have tutsis in the government, in the hi education in the university. no one knew what the hutus were preparing for. so but there were ready and they had machete ready, gun ready, grenades and all of the kind of stuff they needed to kill them and they were waiting for .1 day started. >> did people try to get away as they started to realize what was

happening? was there anywhere to en go once you realized your whole country was now a dangerous place? >> no. from the 6th of april on that night, the whole country was -- was, you know, was not where to go because they put road blocks everywhere. the army, the civilians, the police, they were stopping everybody, and they asked the id card to see if you are tutsis or hutu and if you are tutsi, you are dead. you are killed right away. so people were not having any option other than to stay where they are or move from one place to the other. but you couldn't move from one to another country because they look. they broke the whole borders. nobody was

able to move sufb back to the country since you got away as a refugee. what do you make of rwanda today? it's moving forward. it is different from pass. it's amazing if you see where it came from, where it is right now. it is sun believable. he specially in reconciliation, in unity, in peace, in the security, in justice for all, it is amazing how rwanda is doing. so, i live there before the genocide. i was not allowed to go to school. and if i went, high school was enough. after high school, tutsis were not allowed to go beyond that.

and now, hutus and tutsis are going to have more education. >> one more question before i let you go. >> yes. >> there are probably people watching this on television wondering how on the streets of your country people can know there are murderers walking free just as there are people who survived this, who still bear scars today and how reconciliation is possible. can people really forgive each other? >> it's clear because look at the numbers which were killed in the genocide. it's 1 million. it's about 1 million people. and how many people can kill 1 million people? it's a big number. because one person was killed with many more, you could kill

100 pete on one toothpick. so, it is a big number of people who participated in the genocide. and if you see the population of hutus then in the country right now, you know that they are still people there who haven't come forward and tell the truth. but it's a big question and is not going to be finished today. it's going on, issues, rwanda is trying to figure out how they will do it, but they have been done a lot and they are committed to finish this t this is not for this generation, the next generation is going to pick it up. and the reconciliation problem is not easy, but rwanda has been decide to bring as one, not as hutus and tusis. that is helping the

reconciliation, too. if you have justice for all, people realize it's not the country for hutus, it's a country for rwandans. that's how i think that the reconciliation is coming and we are still have fresh wounds, which is not going to heal today. but we are in the process of healing. and hopefully, it's coming in our generation. >> jason, thanks a lot. thanks for joining us. >> thank you so much. >> we are going to take a short break now. when we come back, we will continue our conversation with more on the new rwanda. this is "inside story." stay with us. >> aljazeera america presents a break through television event borderland... six strangers... >> let's just send them back to mexico >> experience illegal immigration up close and

personal. >> it's overwhelming to see this many people that have perished. >> lost lives are re-lived... >> all of these people shouldn't be dead. >> will there differences bring them together, or tear them apart. >> the only way to find out is to see it yourselves. >> which side of the fence are you on? borderland only on al jazeera america

welcome back to "inside story", it's been 20 years since word started to get out of rwanda, that something more than garden variety ethnic conflict was occurring. other countries were careful, oar mealy mouthed to use the word genocide. because use of the word would trigger consequences.

the roaming death squads were able to go on with their work. when it was over 800,000 were dead. with us for the rest of the program to look back at rwanda and the 20 years that followed in the washington studio, an independent african policy analyst. from london, ian morley, an attorney who prosecuted the rwandan genocide at the u.n. international criminal tribunalal, and in d.c., peter fome director of the islamic council. when you look back at the '90s, and how the world dithered, is it clear that we'd do something different today? . . >> if we look back from today, the failure of action, norms have developed. i think there's a question of

political will to act when push comes to shove, and there's a question of capacity. a lot remains to be done. >> one thing people forget about this, how it exported destabilization to all the country's around it. the congo, which has been in terrible trouble before and since has really become a permanent home to hundreds of thousands of rwandans. >> that is true. that is one of the aspects that troubles me, it's not just people who fled, but we have had a lot of evidence that paul kagame has his hand in the troubles in the eastern congo for the last 20 years, and the death of 800,000 million rwandans is horrendous. 5 million died in the congo.

and also paul kagame enjoys the support of the west. now, he had a fight with the french, because the french supported the government that committed the genocide. he is having the same kind of support, dictator kind of relationship. many of us think a major lesson to learn from the rwandan genocide is powerful countries ought not support dictators, but demoaccuracy in africa. president obama said that. >> jason, you heard the survivor of the genocide, ian morley, you heard our survivor, talking about how everyone understands there is still many, many murderers walking the streets of the country. what was the purpose of the process that you participated in - to just get the big guys, enough of the little guys to have people see that justice was done. was it symbolic, specific. take us back to the process.

>> well, there were two processes going on. there was a process and rwanda, the high court trials, where they processed up to 100,000 people responsible for killing during the course of the 100 day genocide between april and july of 1994. and then the u.n. set up its own tribunal, the international criminal tribunal for rwanda, which sat in tanzania, and that tried those that bore the principle, the cratest responsibility for the events that unfolded there. you'll appreciate that killing a million people in 100 days requires coordination. there were a lot of army and political personalities involved in the process, and the u.n. set about prosecuting those big fish. the rwandans made is great

contribution to bringing many perpetrators to justice. the u.n. did well. there are questions about the cost of the process, the length of the trials, and, i suppose, to some extent, the assistance given to the witnesses who helped in the trials. overall, the two processes, the one in rwanda and one in the tanzania on behalf of the u.n. had positive results. >> cumulative i were they supposed to tell a story not only to rwanda about justice eventually coming, but to the rest of the world so tomorrow's genociders may think twice before trying to do something like this. >> i think there were two things going on. first of all, the ability to create a record which would have withstood some judicial scrutiny, a lot of people had say about what the record looked like. historically we had a better upping of what happened in --

understanding of what happened in rwanda. the trial processes took a lot of time to work out the detail of what was going on through the entirety of the country. additionally, part of the feature of the trial process was to create accountability. the idea that people who commit these offenses will be brought to book. it's unfortunate that it has to happen after the genocide. it would have been better if we stopped in the first place. the idea of stopping impunity has been a major force in the growth of the international criminal law, and a reason why you see so many tribunals springing up throughout the world in respect of bad things that happened in other countries, for example, like in yugoslavia. what was the point of the process - to create a record and a measure of accountability. >> ian morley is in london. we'll take a break and when we come back, talk about rwanda

today, and how the country pulled it said together. this is "inside story", stay with us. r

welcome back to "inside story." i am ray suarez. we are continuing our conversation on rwanda 20 years after the genocide in a matter of 100 days back in 1994, 800,000 people were slaughtered.

rwandans killing rwandans. still with us , an independent africa policy analyst who served as director of africa action. and ian morley who prosecuted leaders of the ran rawandan genocide. here with us, peter fom, director of the atlantic council's africa center. you mentioned earlier on in the program, nee that paul cocamy is feted but he has pulled the country back together. where do you draw the line between stability and safety, which rwanda has today and democracy, which you also want for countries. >> absolutely. i think that the judgment has to be made that democracy ought to come first because it is the process by which you make sure you have legitimate leaders but we also have a record, not just in africa. i mean we mentioned

our friend in london mentioned yugoslavia. the way we read the history is if you sacrifice democracy for the sake of safety and stability, it clearly shows that it lasts only a little while and it blows up. so when we look at rwanda, we worry that the strong arm of paul cocagamy is causes problems in the congo. he has a spot with one of the strongest countries. he was suspected of killing disidents here that this kind of price -- unquibly he has made progress and brought stability. but history shows the price is too high and it can collapse. it has done so in yugoslavia picture. >> peter fom? how about that? when the west looks at the great lakes region in east africa,

does it see a friend in paul cogamy who is a reliable friend and good for his country? >> i think we have to put rwanda and the greater region in context. 20 years ago, rwanda was the epitome of a failed state. there were judgments that weren't viable as a nation going forward because of population density as well as the genocide. in 20 years, we have had great economic growth. the country has pulled itself together. as you mentioned a, ray, it's one of the safest, most orderly capitols in africa. on the other hand, there are concerns and i think friends of rwanda are -- should freely express those concerns about the political space within the country. the room for dissent, the room for social expression but we have to take in context, in rwanda aid dollars can be tracked on line. there are governance contracts

that every government official has to meet performance metrics or he or she loses their jobs. next door in the democratic republic of congo, we have billions of dollars being lost, unaccountability. so, it's not justifying some of the things that nee has brought up. context. >> let me close with ian morely because you helped preside over a process that put the country back on its feet. can that kind of thing now not happen in rwanda again? did you help create, along with rwandans a better place? >> i don't think it's going to happen again in rwanda. but there are some issues that need to be aired. i do think that the hutu majority have some thoughts about some of what happened in the aftermath of the genocide. it's not very easy to express politicalcally different opinions in what is otherwise a

beautiful country which was running personal. i don't know we know the genocide. i think we made a positive contribution. there are things to talk about in rwanda which aren't being talked about. london. he helped oversee the trials for the rwandan genocide criminals. thanks for joining us. nia and peter quam. thanks for being with us. the program may be over. but the conversation continues. >> we want to hear what you think about the issues raised on this or on any day's show. log onto our facebook page or send us your thoughts on twitter. our handle is ajinsidestoryam or reach me at raysuareznews. we will see you for the next "inside story." in washington, i am ray suarez. ♪

>> goorning, and welcome to jam. i'm thomas drayton. let's get you caught up on the stories. crews searching for maryland flight mh370 say the crews have detected two more signals. a naval ship picked up two pings on tuesday. they detected them saturday before losing them. >> in eastern ukraine, activists in one region declared a separatist republic. government buildings in three cities have been taken over. around 60 host igements are held in -- hostages are hold in one building laced with