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Returning to Rwanda

Survivors' and perpetrators' stories thirty years after the Rwandan genocide; illegal sand mining strips Cambodia's rivers; the kinder side of Brazil's megacity Sao Paulo.

Max Pearson introduces dispatches from Rwanda, Cambodia and Brazil.

Victoria Uwonkunda fled Rwanda in 1994, along with her family, to escape the unfolding genocide there. Thirty years on, she went back for the first time to hear the stories of survivors and perpetrators of the violence.

Sexual violence was another weapon used by the genocidaires to terrorise Rwanda's people. Hundreds of thousands of women were raped - and tens of thousands of children were born after these attacks. Emma Ailes met a mother and daughter trying to find peace with the past.

Sand might seem a cheap and almost inexhaustible resource - but far from it. With the world's industries using up more than 50 billion tonnes each year, reserves could soon run low. Robin Markwell reports from Cambodia on the illegal sand mining that's stripping the Mekong river.

And the Â鶹Éç's new South America correspondent, Ione Wells, explores her new home: the industrial megacity of Sao Paulo. Some people call it 'Rio's ugly sister', but she's found much to appreciate amid its high-rise sprawl.

Producer: Polly Hope
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith
Production Co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

Image: Camp Kigali Memorial, Kigali, Rwanda. (photo by: Godong/ Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

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23 minutes

Last on

Mon 8 Apr 2024 19:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 6 Apr 2024 16:06GMT
  • Sun 7 Apr 2024 03:06GMT
  • Sun 7 Apr 2024 08:06GMT
  • Sun 7 Apr 2024 23:06GMT
  • Mon 8 Apr 2024 19:06GMT