By Associated Press She lost her baby daughter and her right hand to a manic killing spree. He wielded the machete that took both. Yet today, despite coming from opposite sides of an unspeakable shared past, Alice Mukarurinda and Emmanuel Ndayisaba are friends. She is the treasurer and he the vice president of a group that builds simple brick houses for genocide survivors. They live near each other and shop at the same market. Their story of ethnic violence, extreme guilt and, to some degree, reconciliation is the story of Rwanda today, 20 years after its Hutu majority killed more than 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The Rwandan government is still accused by human rights groups of holding an iron grip on power, stifling dissent and killing political opponents. But even critics give President Paul Kagame credit for leading the country toward a peace that seemed all but impossible two decades ago.
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Tutsi Alice Mukarurinda's hand was amputated and her baby was killed by Emmanuel Ndayisaba, a Hutu, in 1994
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On Monday Rwanda marks the 20th anniversary of the beginning of 100 days of bloody mayhem
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Hutus resented Tutsis for their greater wealth and what they saw as oppressive rule
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Emmanuel turned himself in and confessed for his crimes in 1996
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Prison term lasted from 1997 until 2003, when Hutus who admitted their guilt were pardoned
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Emmanuel and Alice live near each other and shop at the same market
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Emmanuel kneeled before Alice and asked for forgiveness -- and after two weeks of thought she said yes
'@placeholder would wake up in the morning and go hunting for Tutsis to kill.'
In the months after the genocide, guilt gnawed away at @placeholder.