To the last comment. The Church, where I have filmed also, is a Christian (Catholic) Church and the attackers were also Christians. There are no confirmed reports of ANY Muslim taking part in the Genocide only so called Christians. Many Catholic Priests and Bishops were implicated also and, of course many Priests tried to protect people.

the western superpowers are responsible of what happened and what is happening on africa continent.
what is worse is that the same thing may happen to the remaining victims or in neighbouring countries while the UN and superpowers are there witnessing without stopping

I am married to a Rwandan and have been researching the Rwandan genocide since 1998. “Sometimes in April,” by HBO is 10 times better than “Hotel Rwanda,” simply because it gives a better history and understanding of what really happened (you can find it in any video store). And as stated earlier “Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust,” by Immaculee Ilibagiza with Steve Erwin is a must read. Immaculee truly gives hope among this truest tragedy. Although, I am American, I have become Rwandan in heart by association with many Rwandans here and in Rwanda and reading anything I could get my hands on. While, Africa must heal itself from the inside out, I believe that it is our (Americans) privilege to uplift the world when we feel so called by our spirit. I see a shift in consciousness on this earth were people will help their brothers and sisters, even if they are of different culture, race, ethnic or religion. I am starting a non-profit to aid in the development of Rwandans and Rwanda. If anyone is interested in helping please contact me by e-mail. maryannsn@yahoo.com

By the way it has been reported to my by Rwandans that Muslims and Seven Day Adventist were two groups who saved more lives by hiding Tutsi’s vs. other groups, i.e. the Catholics, etc. Muslims are a small percentage of the population, close to 3%.

The message that most Rwandans want to convey is that they are not Hutu or Tutsi but they are Rwandan and must learn how to move on and live with each other. My point is that we can blame the US, UN, the French, Belgium, Germany, the Catholic Church or the world for their involvement or blind eye towards Rwanda but it will not help. Believe me I did for a long time, but it didn’t help or save anybody. We have to search our own hearts and ask, “What can I do?” Maybe, it is as simple as opening your mind long enough to see past your neighbors differences and finding what units us all.

I pray that God has touched each and every person that survived those horrible days some 12 years ago. I could not even imagine the pain those people have endored back then and even now. I know they all will never forget but I hope that God will sheild there minds and cause the thoughts to disappear!

It saddens me to see hundreds of thousands of lives reduced to a question of religious affiliation.

In response to the last comment that the UN is not doing anything to prevent such conflicts: It is not that simple, it is LACK OF POLITICAL WILL on part of member states, and especially Security Council members, that is often preventing the UN from doing its job.

Fortunatelly, other people´s eyes were opened to help out there and they made us be aware of world and governments injustice. Here in my country, massacres occurr very frequently against civilians.The most important is to take a stand and stop this and support thoses countries where internal conflicts are the day-to-day "routine". Let´s hold our handsa nd pledge for peace.

If there were huge oil interests in Rwanda...the US would be there to help....in a heartbeat....meantwhile it is the likes of Hitler revisited....and where is the human compassion of global assistance? It seems that man's inhumanity to man is escalating....because of greed for $$$ and power.

What is the purpose of United Nations? they are not doing anything to help out.

I realy do not understant why we have to keep killing each other as black people for stupid reasons as one nation and then expect other continents to help, it's sensless, we don't see other nations killing each other like Africans all we have to do is to stop violens and unite.

In the next several years, Africa will be transformed. It's a long time coming for the forgotten continent. If you think that China is the end-all-be-all of manufacturing, wait until Africa.

it's amazing to me that for many, it takes a high style rock star (whom i embrace, by the way) accompanied by some of the most valuable delegates in the world, to bring camera crews to these locations. And a movie like Hotel Rwanda. But if that's what it takes, let's do it over and over and over again. thank you Brian and Bono and your teams there. stay safe tonight. your in my prayers. stay close.

sammi fredenburg
seattle, washington usa

we need to stand up to the corrupt govs. of the world. we has a people have the power together to seek justice for those that are raped, murdered, treated like cattle, all in the gains of the corrupted. i'm tired of people ignoring the world around them. It's time to welcome yourself to reality and stop living in the bubble of lies, that you find so hard to step out of.

Speaking from the voice of an American college student, slightly naive but even more hopeful, learning about the genocides occuring in Africa are eye-opening. As I search to learn more about each genocide I wonder why more Americans and more of my peers do not have a greater urge to learn about these wars and help the people in Africa. Trying to convince my friends to see "Invisible Children" a movie about child soldiers in Uganda, was like pulling teeth for me. I know that my friends care about the world and these people, but I believe they are afraid to realize that there is pain and suffering outside of the sheltered bubble they live in. I think they are scared to face the problems of the world, as are many people, but we must face them together so we can eradicate them. I urge all of you to see "Invisible Children" to learn more about the situation in Uganda. Please visit, www.invisiblechildren.com . We all need to do our part.

I keep seeing people mention to watch Hotel Rwanda. Well what about the books out there. In college I read "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
by Philip Gourevitch " and it no doubt helped to shed light on the horror and complexities of the conflict for me. It is full of personal stories of victims as well as the authors. The movie Hotel Rwanda is just one glimpse into the conflict.

(1) Before making judgements about Hutus and Tutsi being either good or evil, please review the cycle of power- created by colonizers- and the abuse of that power through which these groups went. (2) We become self-righteously angered about these situations after the atrocities are revealed. But, we argue many times that the United States interferes too much with other countries. We complain that the US spends too much money on foreign aide and abuses its clout as a "Super Power". My question is: where were YOU when this happened? Were YOU calling your senator or representative? Were YOU calling your neighbors? Were YOU collecting donations? Or did you just sit on the couch watching the news and say, "Oh, that's terrible" and then turn the channel or go make dinner? Stop blaming our goverment: it is OUR servant, not WE its servant. As a United States citizen, I have been educated and believe that the voice of one CAN cry loud enough to call other voices to it. And that with that ONE voice, many can be raised to CHANGE the world. **Nobody cares if you're Christian/Muslim/Jewish/Hindu or Conservative/Liberal. IT'S ABOUT BEING HUMAN. (3) I highly recommend Sometimes in April- a movie about the Rwandan conflict in the 1990's.

There is certainly not a "silver bullet" that would relieve all of Rwanda's woes (nevertheless Africa as a whole). Yet it seems that in a country (and continent)that lacks even the most basic of provisions such as clean drinking water, basic sanitation, health care and is furthermore steeped in civil wars and centuries old hostilities that there is one, and only one, way to help that can ensure a better future- FREE, SECULAR AND CULTURALLY RELEVANT EDUCATION FOR ALL. Imagine an Africa that could be run BY AFRICANS. Having doctors, engineers, educators, effective leadership, and putting an end to bigotry and racism can only be realized in this way. It's time to take off the Western "band-aid" that only seems to infect the sore and really do something that will heal a nation. "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

I would like to point out that this atrocity is just one in a long line of historical events in which Africa is brought to it's knees or kicked while it's down by wealthier Western nations. I am glad to see people's reactions here, I am glad to see the horror, the sadness, the anger, the compassion - but please, let's remember that we should not just shed tears for the past. In every corner of Africa problems exist today which can logically be traced back to the West taking advantage of the continent of Africa. I may be a colonialist thinker, but I do not see why it takes a genocide (Rwanda, Darfur, or otherwise) to wake us up and make us "feel" for Africa. Africans today still suffer the direct consequences of colonialism, when Europeans swarmed the continent, divided it up amongst themselves, raped it of it's natural resources so that we could gain the financial strength needed to better our technology and render those same natural resources nearly useless (consider the rubber trees in Congo - King Leopold of Belguim would cut off the hands and arms of Africans if they refused to farm them; now we have synthetic rubber, so no money for congo...) - then we set up corrupt governments to replace ourselves, and left the continent to fester. Why don't you all weep for Africa every day? Why aren't you as angry about the millions upon millions of men, women, and children who still live in abject poverty today because of these events of the last two centuries? How much more chaos must the continent descend into before we open our eyes and shout that it all must change?!... If this interests you I suggest you read (for one) "Detained," by Ngugi wa Thinog'o to learn about what Europeans left behind when they 'granted' Kenya freedom, for a look at dependency theory please read "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" by Walter Rodney, or for a more detailed look at the genocide in Rwanda which traces the ethnic conflict back to pre-colonial times please check out "When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda," By Mahmood Mamdani.

I think the most shameful thing about the Clinton Administration was not about Monica, Paula, or anything else having to do with his personal life, which, after all, should have been between him and Hillary. Rather, it was his total lack of meaningful action regarding Rwanda's genocide and the fact that when it came to Bosnia, he waited close to 3 years before finally taking action there. I know more about what happened in Bosnia because when that war was going on, I followed it closely. It made my blood boil that after years of murder, rape, sieges of Sarajevo and other cities, and other atrocities, it took the horrific massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men at Srebrenica to finally get the Western powers off their collective behinds and into action.

I think it would be an interesting idea for NBC Nightly sometime to bring us up to date on the current situation in Bosnia, Kosovo, and the rest of former Yugoslavia.

I love how people make Rwanda about Bush and oil. President Clinton was in charge then and didn't do a thing. Nearly 1 million people were killed. Yet, this somehow gets turned around to be about Bush and oil. That's what makes me laugh out loud. What about the Clintons? When Hillary and Bill were in charge, what did they do to protect the Rwandan people? Oh, that's right, they issued a press statment condemning the genocide as nearly 1 million people died. They just sat there as maybe the worst genocide since the Holocaust took place. As far as the UN is concerned, it's just another example of what they really are - nothing more than a paper tiger. And we actually concern ourselves with what they think? I guess that's why I would never vote for anyone who believes in international courts for our soldiers, believes we need to get permission from the UN before we take any action, or holds the UN in higher esteem than the U.S.(sorry, John Kerry). It's a horrible shame what happened to the Rwandan people. For those who haven't seen it, please watch Hotel Rwanda. It's eye-popping and really strikes at passionate nerves.

I felt compelled to correct the comment that muslims may have been behind this genocide. Google rwanda muslim genocide and you will find plenty of articles about how muslims helped the victims of the genocide. Muslims are neither angels nor the demons that the media makes them out to be. A fanatical minority in the muslim community is giving the impression that they're speaking for all of us Muslims which isnt true.

"...What went on here was a million times worse than what was going on in Iraq before we invaded...

Carson Betsinger, MN"

Gross exageration on your part, don't you think considering this...?

Known mass grave sites in Iraq

One of the most threatening challenges facing the new Iraqi government and the Iraqi society is the horrible heritage of the Baath terror. Until now more than 260 mass graves have been located all over Iraq and their number increases daily. Only few of them are cemeteries containing numbered graves where the executed political prisoners can be identified, but most of them are unmarked mass graves. The number of missing persons in Iraq comes up to 1.3 million. Most them will be found in mass graves: the deported men of the Barzani tribe (1983), victims of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88), the victims of the „Anfal“ campaign (1987-89), tens of thousands of Shias after 1991,
http://afhr.org/en/graves.html?lang=en

I find it interesting that, having found no WMD in Iraq, we can justify going to war to "free the Iraqi people from the tyrannical dictator Saddam Hussein" yet we do nothing about situations like those in Rwanda. The bigger question is whether or not it is our duty, as a super-power, to rid humanity of tyranny even if it means ignoring a country's sovereignty. If it is, we should be declaring war on dozens of nations around the world; if not, we should not thus justify a war in Iraq.

CHRIST WAS NOT A CHRISTIAN. HE WOULD BE UPSET WITH ALL
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS FOR WHAT THEY ARE TEACHING.
REMEMBER CHRIST'S MESSAGE"THE KINGDOM OF GOD LIES WITHIN"

I lived with my family in East Africa for over 10 years. We worked two years in Ethiopia during the horrible "famine" in that country. The current African "issues" are political issues that go much deeper than religion (I question whether religion really is an issue in most areas). The borders of African countries were selfishly drawn by "Europeans" for economic purposes (Think "colonies"). There was no consideration given to the tribes or the tribal boundaries, etc. of the African people. The colonies/nations were established solely to benefit countries outside the continent itself. The conflict is very much a result of tribal cultures forced to live in a way that is contrary to their culture. Adding to that is the cultural ignorance of nations outside the region, the lack of "economic viability" of Africa to the rest of the world (no oil!), and the prejudice of a world that measures the worth of individuals by etnicity, economics, education, and they way the look. I believe that the African people are survivors. They are a beautiful, intelligent and industrious people who are forced to survive a horrible injustice at the hands, not of one another, but of a world that just doesn't care. I do not believe many in our nation would even know where to begin to survive such issues. I can do nothing but admire a people who have suffered such devastation. If this were happening in any other part of the world, we would be outraged.