Will the international community repeat the mistakes of Rwanda in CAR?

Many are saying the conflict in the Central African Republic looks a lot like Rwanda did before the world intervened some two decades ago. The UN is sending in thousands of peacekeepers, but the question is ... will they get there soon enough to stop the bloodshed in CAR?

At the time we were worried about getting into Bosnia. We had the reaction from Black Hawk Down in Somalia. And it was over in 90 days. We just blew it. And I think had we sent 10,000 troops there and gotten a few more people to come, we might have been able to save a third of the people who died. So I don't think we could have ended the violence but I think we could have cut it down and I regret it. Former US President Bill Clinton

Former US President Bill Clinton has been remarkably candid about his regret at not having intervened to stop the Rwandan genocide. And as the world marks its 20th anniversary this week, many people have vowed that such a slaughter should never be allowed to happen again. And yet, people working in the Central African Republic are sounding the alarm.

Yesterday, after months of communal violence and thousands of deaths, the United Nations Security Council voted to send 12,000 peacekeepers to the Central African Republic ... but they won't arrive until September.

Michelle Shephard was in the Central African Republic earlier this month. She is the Toronto Star's national security reporter and she was in our Toronto studio.

In response to the Rwandan genocide -- and the massacre at Srebrenica during the Bosnian War -- the United Nations adopted the Responsibility to Protect commitment or R2P. R2P says all nations have an obligation to protect their people from mass atrocities and that the international community has a responsibility to assist in that protection.

Naomi Kikoler is the Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. She has also just returned from the Central African Republic. She was in New York City.

The Department of Foreign Affairs was not able to provide a comment or interview today about its involvement in the Central African Republic.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Catherine Kalbfleisch, Lara O'Brien and Liz Hoath.

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