Say “Rwanda,” and most of the world thinks genocide and death.

In one hundred days in 1994, Hutu militias slaughtered 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The scale and speed of slaughter were astounding.

Now, against all odds, says journalist Stephen Kinzer, Rwanda is on a brilliant comeback trail. Led by hardnosed Tutsi president Paul Kagame, Rwanda is on track to become the jewel of Africa and maybe the developing world.

Critics, including the star of the story of Hotel Rwanda, say Kagame’s a dictator. Kinzer says look again.

This hour, On Point: Rwanda, superstar.

- Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Stephen Kinzer, foreign correspondent for The New York Times, and author of “A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It”

Paul Rusesabagina, a key humanitarian figure in the 1994 genocide, and the subject of the film “Hotel Rwanda.” He’s now a leading critic of the current Rwandan administration.