Remembering Rwanda

International | AFRICA: Ten years ago, the United Nations failed to act as Hutu extremists killed 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates. The central African country still lives with the consequences | Priya Abraham

GRIEVING RWANDANS BURIED the remains of hundreds of family members in 20 communal coffins in a state ceremony on April 7, the official commemoration day marking the 1994 genocide. The crowded farewell wasn't perfect, but it offered more dignity than being dumped into pit latrines and mass graves 10 years ago. At the end, President Paul Kagame lit a flame to burn for 100 days, the length of the genocide that saw 800,000 murdered.

The mass killings may have passed, but Rwandans are still suffering the consequences. The genocide began when extremist Hutus, the central African country's majority tribe, began slaughtering minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus with machetes, hoes, and bullets. They also raped about half a million women and girls, infecting thousands of them with the AIDS virus, HIV.