In Rwanda, suspects are confronted by their accusers

It's been 10 years since the genocide in Rwanda.

The events of April 1994 are regarded as one of Africa's most shameful tragedies, with some 800,000 people killed in about 100 days.

The Rwandan Government and the United Nations are trying to bring those responsible to justice.

The UN has set up an international court in Arusha, Tanzania while the Rwandan government has established traditional courts, called "Gacaca" to bring to justice those suspected of participating in the genocide.

The BBC's Africa Live asks, 10 years on what lessons have been learned for Rwanda, Africa and the world?

Are the present forms of justice best for perpetrators and survivors of the genocide?

Join the BBC's Africa Live debate Wednesday 31 March at 1630 & 1830GMT

Use the form to send us your comments, some of which will be published below.

If you would like to take part in the discussion, e-mail us with your telephone number, which will not be published.

Your comments:

There is not enough mass media coverage of the Rwandan Genocide. We need to hear more about how Rwandans are dealing with the issues they face today. The West must help Rwandans rewrite their history.
George Wilby, UK

I can only hope that Rwanda learned more from their national tragedy than the international community did. It frustrates me to know that the majority of people I mention the subject to are completely unaware of what happened in Rwanda.
Jennifer, USA

The most important factor in the future of Rwanda is if Rwandans have learned from the genocide. I am encouraged that there is a system of communal justice through the gacaca courts and that there is a growing vision among Rwandans of what a country built on peace and unity can actually accomplish. I have had the privilege of interviewing several influential Rwandans who have returned to their country with a renewed sense of purpose in serving it. Rwanda needs to ensure that its new generations grow up with these attitudes and not the division and hatred that characterised the past.
Richard Taylor, Canada

The best thing to happen for Rwanda would be the South Africa version of truth and reconciliation. The gacaca parallel to the Arusha based UN court is suspect. I dont believe in the fairness of its verdicts.
Freeman Tettey, Ghana

Does Kagame and African presidents know that nearly all black African countries don't matter at all on world scene? Does he know that a similar genocide can take place just few years later in Rwanda or in another country? Root cause of all this is underdevelopment, poverty and lack of vision. Be sure nobody cares.
Kenda, Uganda

Many lessons were learnt from the Rwandan genocide. That the UN is selective in terms of who needs immediate help and who does not and the UN cannot protect you even if they come.
Paul Kudina, Zimbabwe

The only reason that Rwanda featured so strongly was the speed with which it took place. The event itself was no different from any other - Zimbabwe 1982, estimated dead 30000-40000, lesson learnt? The conflict is ongoing and ignored. Burundi has claimed over 300,000 lives since it started in 1993.
Benson Magabe, Zimbabwe

If after 10 years, we are still declaring war on other nations and killing targeted individuals, then nothing on the part of history has been saved. If after 10 years, the "Gacaca" method of solving problems has not worked for Rwandans, then I beg of the world to continue writing the history for the world to know what happened in Rwanda.
Michael Pokawa, Sierra Leone/USA

Ten years after this monstrous killing, little or no justice have been done to the perpetrators. The present form of justice is nothing other than an encouragement to people with no minds to do the same. Can't the United Nations do something better than the so-called Arusha court?
Monyoro Alex, Australia

I think the most poignant lesson learnt from the genocide in Rwanda is how destructive and murderous tribalism can be. The best way to go is to share power as much as possible and to accept other people of different ethnic origins as being human like all other people and therefore equal in dignity.
Chishimba Milongo, Zambia

Andy from Kenya, your words are true and extremely sad. No one cared about Rwanda because unlike Iraq it doesn't have any oil. Our human advancement has enabled us to transplant a heart from one human to another, yet no real similar effort has been done to try and bring everyone in the world together? Strange....
Mohammad Ali, Saudi Arabia

I do not believe that Rwanda taught the world anything and even if it did, I believe the lessons are long forgotten. The seeds that bore Rwanda are still been sown in other African countries. It's only a matter of time before the next Rwanda is due.
Becks, England

I'm an Indian expatriate in Rwanda. When I decided to go to Rwanda in 2000, most of my friends advised me against my decision to go there as they thought that Rwanda was a country of killers. What I've discovered is that this is one of the most peaceful countries in the world. People here are against any sort of violence. They know that unity and reconciliation is very important to lead a peaceful life.
Albert P'Rayan, Rwanda

The lessons are clear - do not sit on potential trouble and wait, hoping that it will walk away. Lesson 2 - Africa wake up and do not wait for the UN, US or French to solve your problems. What on earth is this thing called the AU or the OAU for?
Pacharo Kayira, Malawi

The first lesson from the Rwanda genocide is that world leaders especially the UN should prevent a recurrence of events similar to Rwanda through early response. Close to two million people have died in Congo but the international community took long to respond through MONUC. The justice system is not very adequate because of the bureaucratic nature which has delayed justice. The genocide suspects have taken long to be judged while the relatives of the victims have waited for long to see justice done.
Micheal Wambi , Uganda

I must agree with Andy from Kenya. We (the entire International Community) let the people of Rwanda down. However, after spending time there last year, I was encouraged to witness changed hearts and lives manifested in true forgiveness and reconciliation. We should do all possible to assist them in pursuing this noble and just cause.
Phillip Wrenn, USA

Why do people take one side only? It would be fair if both sides face what they did to the country. If what they see on TV is what they're judging, they should live the life we lived after the war. In what people think is a peaceful country, parents have been taken away for no reason, leaving children by themselves to be abused, sleeping in farms because of fear. To me both sides are as bad as each other. That is why they need to be judged the same.
Anonymous

It looks as if there is no lasting lesson learnt from Rwanda. We still hear of conflicts and hidden genocides in most countries both in Africa and other places of the world, for example, Burundi, DR Congo and Sudan. People seem to forget very quickly.
Aikande Kwayu, Tanzania/ Japan

A holocaust victim told me that she learned to forgive and go on with her life. And nothing was done in Cambodia so why should anyone expect anything to be done in Rwanda?
Stavros, USA

Nothing else is best apart from what the Rwandan government and the UN are doing by bringing the perpetrators of the genocide to justice. Those who committed that crime against humanity are evils who should tried, jailed and killed because "he who killed by the sword would die by the sword."
Olusegun Ogunbowale, Nigeria

It was big power politics that led the international community to leave people in Rwanda to die just like flies. The international community saw nothing to benefit from Rwanda in terms of resources. This was the worst betrayal in history. May the souls of the victims lay in eternal peace.
Rwakibaale Muhanga, Rwanda

I think Rwandan people should do more for themselves instead waiting for abroad. The role of civil society is important apart from governmental efforts.
Adelino Chissale, Australia

The International community has learnt nothing. The country is still traumatised and the French still want to destabilise it because it is turning into an "Anglophone" country. The Rwandese have learnt reconciliation and resistance against the defunct FAR, interahamwe, the DR Congo and France. Rwanda needs peace and development. It should forget about the International Community, they betrayed Rwanda.
Andy, Kenya

I think the present forms of justice are the best for perpetrators and survivors alike, especially GACACA, which serves the purpose of truth and reconciliation, where confession is made and forgiveness given. It is the best way of bringing Hutus and Tutsis together in love and mercy.
Jack Hodari, India

Justice delayed, justice denied, that is the law of African leaders. The perpetrators should be brought to book, with immediate effect, so that, it will serve as a deterrent to others planning genocide.
Scott Odiase, Nigerian in Bologna, Italy

The genocide in Rwanda 10 years ago exposed the level of contempt and disregard the UN and the Western world have for internal conflicts in Africa. Not only those Rwandans who organised and carried out the genocide are to blame. Since the international community failed to prevent and halt this killing campaign, they all share in the shame of the crime. The amount of money spent preventing such carnage will always be far less than what will be lost in terms of number of people killed.
Chinedu Ibeabuchi, Lagos, Nigeria

I was in Nairobi, Kenya when the genocide happened in 1994. There was no doubt that the genocide had been well co-ordinated both locally and internationally. But one thing I like most is the establishment of the UN international tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania and Rwanda traditional courts, hoping that all perpetrators should be brought to justice one by one even if it takes 40 years to get them all. President Kagame has brought Hutus and Tutsis together as "Rwandans". So, the question is; will the country remain united after Kagame leaves office?
Peter Tuach, US

I hope that people have learnt that evil prevails only when good people do nothing. If the community had objected strongly at the time of the first death, maybe there would not have been a second.
Wangeshi Gatheru, Kenya

I am afraid there are very few lessons learnt from the Rwandan genocide because at the moment it is the effects being treated not the causes. It is the victims being talked about and not the real perpetrators. Up to now the court in Arusha is conducting a one-sided prosecution. What justice is that except a 'kangaroo' justice? It is shame that professional lawyers and the International community is allowing such an incompetent mess to go on indefinitely at a snail's pace.
Masanga Kishashi, Tanzania

Today the world's most horrific tragedy is unfolding in Darfur state in southern Sudan, the Sudanese government with its allied militia are actively pursuing the policy of ethnic cleansing against Africans of Darfur. This is evidence that we have learned nothing from the events that led to Rwandan genocide. The Darfur genocide can only be averted if the international community intervenes and calls on Government of Sudan to stop this.
Marial Wuoi, USA/Sudan

It does not seem to me that much has been learnt since the Rwanda genocide. Until the world starts to look at itself as one place and not divided by countries, religions and ethnic differences, then these hatreds will carry on with these resulting tragedies.
Ashley Vosper, England

I don't think the BBC is asking the right question, rather ask: Who was responsible? What role did the UN play in the scheme of things? What of France's complicity? This underlines the current crises in Iraq: the UN in its current form is ineffective, if we are to avoid the mistakes of the past. We have to reform the UN. The current situation where unelected state governments, and despots vote on issues and pass resolutions without proper and adequate action is unacceptable.
Godwin Mukoro, UK

Why did the UN sign a declaration that genocide would never happen again? Did that law only apply to the Europeans and the Japanese.
Keith Allan, US

The cost of political correctness in Rwanda was the deaths of 800,000 people. Nato stopped the madness in the Balkans. Vietnam stopped the slaughter in Cambodia. The genocide of the Kurds in Iraq has been stopped. All without UN authorisation. Thankfully, some countries still have the moral fortitude to make war in order to halt crimes against humanity.
Mak Thorpe, New Zealand

It is profoundly a very controversial issue if one talks about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. First of all, one has to look at the international perspective (the international community), the UN Security Council and who controls and regulates them. That exactly is where one would learn the prescribed lesson about the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The conclusion that one has in mind at this particularly globalised world is that, a lesson learned is a lesson forgotten since those who kept the genocide going do not care.
Dominic Woja Maku, Saskatoon, Canada

I still wonder whether we so called humans have any spirit or are we just bones and flesh. After reading such incidents my heart pains and I am bound to think are we civilised yet? Humanity has to go long way to become civilised. Long way to go before we can call ourselves humans.
Amit Dixit, India/USA

I don't think that the actions taken by the UN are enough. I don't believe them when they say they are doing all that they can to bring the people responsible to justice. The UN said they were doing all they could to help the Rwandan war in 94'. But during the 10 year "anniversary" they said they could of done more. So I won't believe what they're saying until something is done and they bring forward whoever is responsible.
John, US

I think that if people willing commit these types of crimes, there is no proper justice short of being hung, drawn, and quartered.
Meredith Wardlaw, USA

Whether it's in Rwanda, Sudan or Iraq, tribal and religious emotionalism is a destructive mix with politics. We shouldn't make any mistakes about this: the scar of ethnic and religious conflicts, no matter where they occur, can never be wiped off memories, not least by any form of so-called truth and reconciliation commission.
Tony Izuogu, Ghana (Nigerian)

Personally, I don't think the present approach is effective. A South African style Truth and Reconciliation Commission with the power to recommend prosecutions and compensations/ funding of therapy sessions I think would better serve the people of Rwanda. I also think the Rwandan govt should set up parameters that would prevent such a terrible tragedy from happening again.
J. Mensah, USA (Ghana)

The present forms of justice for perpetrators and survivors of the genocide are the best but the dispensation of justice is a bit slower and those accused of crimes against humanities with inadequate evidence to level against them should be release from further detention. On Africa Live, let a "minute of silence" be observed for the victims.
D. Danesius T. Marteh-II, Monrovia, Liberia