 |
Travel to Rwanda — Unbiased reviews and great deals
from TripAdvisorRwanda
|
Republic of Rwanda
National name: Repubulika y'u
Rwanda
President: Paul Kagame (2000)
Prime Minister: Bernard Makuza
(2000)
Current government officials
Land area: 9,633 sq mi (24,949 sq km);
total area: 10,169 sq mi (26,338 sq km)
Population (2007 est.): 9,907,509
(growth rate: 2.8%); birth rate: 40.2/1000; infant mortality rate:
85.3/1000; life expectancy: 49.0; density per sq mi: 1,029
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Kigali, 298,100
Monetary unit: Rwanda franc
Languages:
Kinyarwanda, French, and English (all
official); Kiswahili in commercial centers
Ethnicity/race:
Hutu 84%, Tutsi 15%, Twa (Pygmoid) 1%
Religions:
Roman Catholic 56.5%, Protestant 26%,
Adventist 11.1%, Islam 4.6%, indigenous beliefs 0.1%, none 1.7%
(2001)
Literacy rate: 70% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $8.4 billion; per capita $900. Real growth rate: 6%.
Inflation: 9.4%. Unemployment: n.a. Arable
land: 46%. Agriculture: coffee, tea, pyrethrum
(insecticide made from chrysanthemums), bananas, beans, sorghum,
potatoes; livestock. Labor force: 4.6 million (2000);
agriculture 90%, industry and services 10%. Industries:
cement, agricultural products, small-scale beverages, soap,
furniture, shoes, plastic goods, textiles, cigarettes. Natural
resources: gold, cassiterite (tin ore), wolframite (tungsten
ore), methane, hydropower, arable land. Exports: $170.8
million f.o.b. (2007 est.): coffee, tea, hides, tin ore.
Imports: $472.5 million f.o.b. (2007 est.): foodstuffs,
machinery and equipment, steel, petroleum products, cement and
construction material. Major trading partners: Indonesia,
China, Germany, Kenya, Belgium, Uganda, France (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 22,000 (2005); mobile cellular: 290,000 (2005). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 0, FM 3 (two main FM programs are
broadcast through a system of repeaters and the third FM program is
a 24 hour BBC program), shortwave 1 (2002). Radios: 601,000
(1997). Television broadcast stations: 2 (2004).
Televisions: n.a.; probably less than 1,000 (1997).
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1,592 (2007). Internet
users: 65,000 (2006).
Transportation: Railways: 0 km.
Highways: total: total: 14,008 km paved: 2,662 km unpaved:
11,346 km (2004). Waterways: Lac Kivu navigable by
shallow-draft barges and native craft. Ports and harbors:
Cyangugu, Gisenyi, Kibuye. Airports: 9 (2007).
International disputes: Tutsi, Hutu, and
other conflicting ethnic groups, associated political rebels, armed
gangs, and various government forces continue fighting in Great
Lakes region, transcending the boundaries of Burundi, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda to gain control over
populated areas and natural resources - government heads pledge to
end conflicts, but localized violence continues despite UN
peacekeeping efforts.
Major sources and definitions
|
|
Geography
Rwanda, in east-central Africa, is surrounded by the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, and Burundi. It is slightly
smaller than Maryland. Steep mountains and deep valleys cover most of the
country. Lake Kivu in the northwest, at an altitude of 4,829 ft (1,472 m),
is the highest lake in Africa. Extending north of it are the Virunga
Mountains, which include the volcano Karisimbi (14,187 ft; 4,324 m),
Rwanda's highest point.
Government
Republic.
History
The original inhabitants of Rwanda were the Twa, a Pygmy people who now
make up only 1% of the population. While the Hutu and Tutsi are often
considered to be two separate ethnic groups, scholars point out that they
speak the same language, have a history of intermarriage, and share many
cultural characteristics. Traditionally, the differences between the two
groups were occupational rather than ethnic. Agricultural people were
considered Hutu, while the cattle-owning elite were identified as Tutsi.
Supposedly Tutsi were tall and thin, while Hutu were short and square, but
it is often impossible to tell one from the other. The 1933 requirement by
the Belgians that everyone carry an identity card indicating tribal
ethnicity as Tutsi or Hutu enhanced the distinction. Since independence,
repeated violence in both Rwanda and Burundi has increased ethnic
differentiation between the groups.
Rwanda, which became a part of German East Africa in 1890, was first
visited by European explorers in 1854. During World War I, it was occupied
in 1916 by Belgian troops. After the war, it became a Belgian League of
Nations mandate, along with Burundi, under the name of Ruanda-Urundi. The
mandate was made a UN trust territory in 1946. Until the Belgian Congo
achieved independence in 1960, Ruanda-Urundi was administered as part of
that colony. Belgium at first maintained Tutsi dominance but eventually
encouraged power sharing between Hutu and Tutsi. Ethnic tensions led to
civil war, forcing many Tutsi into exile. When Ruanda became the
independent nation of Rwanda on July 1, 1962, it was under Hutu rule.
In Oct. 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), Tutsi rebels in exile
in Uganda, invaded in an attempt to overthrow the Hutu-led Rwandan
government. Peace accords were signed in Aug. 1993, calling for a
coalition government. But after the downing of a plane in April 1994 that
killed the presidents of both Rwanda and Burundi, deep-seated ethnic
violence erupted. (Who is responsible for shooting down the plane is
unclear. One theory suggests it was Hutu extremists who rejected the
Hutu-Tutsi power-sharing plan proposed by President Juvénal
Habyarimana, a Hutu moderate.)
The presidential guard began murdering Tutsi opposition leaders, and
soon policemen and soldiers began attempting to murder the entire Tutsi
population. In 100 days, beginning in April 1994, Hutu rampaged through
the country and slaughtered an estimated 800,000 Tutsi and their moderate
Hutu sympathizers. A 30,000-member militia group, the Interahamwe, led
much of the murderous spree, but, goaded by radio propaganda, ordinary
Hutu joined in massacring their Tutsi neighbors. Although the genocidal
slaughter seemed a spontaneous eruption of hatred, it has in fact been
shown to have been carefully orchestrated by the Hutu government.
In response, the Tutsi rebel force, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, swept
across the country in a 14-week civil war, routing the largely Hutu
government. Despite horrific reports of genocide, no country came to the
Tutsi's assistance. The UN, already stationed in Rwanda at the time of the
killing, withdrew entirely after ten of its soldiers were killed.
In the aftermath of the genocide, an estimated 1.7 million Hutu fled
across the border into neighboring Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of
the Congo). Although Tutsi rebels took control of the government, they
permitted a Hutu, Pasteur Bizimungu, to serve as president, attempting to
deflect accusations of a resurgence in Tutsi elitism and to foster
national unity. Paul Kagame, the Tutsi rebel leader, became vice president
and éminence grise.
Amid the legitimate refugees from the genocide were Hutu militiamen,
who began waging guerrilla warfare from refugee camps in Zaire. The Hutu
guerrillas in Zaire, as well as Zaire's threat to exile their own ethnic
Tutsi, led to Rwanda's support of rebel forces, headed by Laurent Kabila,
bent on overthrowing Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko. But Rwanda soon grew
disenchanted with Kabila's new regime. The Kabila government was not able
to prevent the raids from Hutu guerrillas that continued to traumatize the
country and destabilize the region. In Aug. 1998, a little more than a
year after Kabila took over, a rebellion began against his reign,
instigated by Rwanda and Uganda.
Refugee problems, continued massacres, and the horrific legacy of
genocide continued to haunt the national psyche. In Sept. 1998, a UN
tribunal sentenced Jean Kambanda, a former prime minister of Rwanda, to
life in prison for his part in the 1994 genocide. He became the first
person in history to be convicted for the crime of genocide, first defined
in the 1948 Genocide Convention after World War II. By 2001, eight others
had also been convicted of the same charge. The UN tribunal, however, was
criticized for its inefficiency and slow pace. In Dec. 1999, an
independent report, commissioned by the UN, took Kofi Annan and other UN
officials to task for not intervening effectively in the genocide.
In April 2000, President Bizimungu resigned and Vice President Paul
Kagame became the first Tutsi president of the nation. It was Kagame's
rebel force that seized Rwanda's capital and put an end to the genocide in
1994.
Rwanda continued fighting against the Democratic Republic of the Congo
throughout its four-year civil war. Finally, in July 2002, the two
countries signed a peace accord: Rwanda promised to withdraw its 35,000
troops from the Congolese border; Congo in turn agreed to disarm the
thousands of Hutu militiamen in its territory, who threatened Rwandan
security.
In May 2003, 93% of Rwandans voted to approve a new constitution that
instituted a balance of political power between Hutu and Tutsi. No party,
for example, can hold more than half the seats in parliament. The
constitution also outlawed the incitement of ethnic hatred. In Aug. 26
presidential elections, the first since the Rwandan genocide, Paul Kagame,
who had served as president since 2000, won a landslide victory. In June
2004, Pasteur Bizimungu, the Hutu who had served as president between 1994
and 2000 (then–vice president Kagame held the real power), was
sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of inciting ethnic hatred. Many
considered the trial politically motivated.
In 2004, a French judge asserted that Kagame was responsible for the
1994 downing of a plane that killed the presidents of both Rwanda and
Burundi and set off ethnic violence that killed some 800,000 Tutsi and
moderate Hutu. Kagame vehemently denied the charge. In 2008, Rose Kabuye,
a senior aide to Kagame, was arrested at Frankfurt International Airport
on a warrant from France and charged in connection with the crash.
A UN court in Dec. 2008 convicted Col Theoneste Bagosora, a Hutu
extremist, of genocide for his involvement in the 1994 massacre of 800,000
Tutsi and moderate Hutu. He is the highest-ranking military official
charged in connection with the genocide.
See also Encyclopedia: Rwanda.
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Rwanda
Fact Monster/Information Please®
Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
More on Rwanda from Infoplease:
- Rwanda - Rwanda Rwanda , officially Republic of Rwanda, republic (2005 est. pop. 8,441,000), 10,169 sq mi ...
- Rwanda - Rwanda Profile: Geography, People, History, Government and Political Conditions, Economy, Defense, Foreign Relations, U.S.-Rwandan Relations
- Rwanda: meaning and definitions - Rwanda: Definition and Pronunciation
- Rwanda - Map of Rwanda & articles on flags, geography, history, statistics, disasters current events, and international relations.
- Rwanda: Bibliography - Bibliography See W. R. Louis, Ruanda-Urundi, 1884–1919 (1963); R. Lemarchand, Rwanda and ...
|
|
