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　　Two decades have passed since hundreds ofthousands of people were killed in the Rwandagenocide, and Western powers were accused ofstanding by and allowing it to happen. Expertssay there are lessons to be learned on how toprevent such tragedies in the future.

　　The world was shocked when an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were massacred in about 100days, starting April 7, 1994.

　　Members of the ethnic Hutu majority killed about 70 percent of the minority Tutsis living inRwanda, and many moderate Hutus.

　　U.S. President Bill Clinton was criticized at home and abroad for doing nothing to stop theslaughter. Four years later, he visited Rwanda and apologized for his inaction.

　　"We did not act quickly enough after the killing began. All over the world, there were people likeme sitting in offices day after day after day, who did not fully appreciate the depth and thespeed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror," he said.

　　Despite the vow of "never again," the catastrophe in Rwanda did not bring the end ofwidespread violence against civilians.

　　Genocide in Sudan's Darfur region and sectarian violence in the Central African Republic areamong the acts of mass brutality since then that have left millions dead or homeless.

　　In the Syrian civil war, at least 150,000 people are believed to have been killed, and PresidentBarack Obama has been accused of inaction.

　　Amnesty International's Adotei Akwei said opposition from Russia in the United NationsSecurity Council is blocking White House efforts to stop the violence in Syria.

　　"The international community has to end the crisis in Syria somehow, and the administrationhas been consistent in trying to do that, but it's not been able to actually achieve the resultsthat we all want to see," Akwei said.

　　Veteran U.S. diplomat Johnnie Carson, now a senior adviser at the U.S. Institute for Peace,said the Rwanda genocide taught the world it has to move quickly.

　　"Act swiftly, and to muster the resources of the international community to condemn andengage as quickly as possible when we see an atrocity about to occur," stated Carson

　　Ambassador Carson said the lessons of Rwanda and other massacres led Obama to establishan Atrocities Prevention Board, "...which is an inter-agency group that gets together once amonth, under the direction of the National Security Council, to review situations around theworld that may be likely to turn into atrocities or mass violence.

　　Akwei said the board is a "major step forward," but efforts to prevent atrocities must startsooner.

　　"It would be better and probably more economical to try to challenge intolerance and hatepropaganda earlier on, before all of the actors are in place when things are actually beginningto threaten people," he said.

　　Akwei said the best way to prevent genocide is to show that the world is watching and will nottolerate it.