In 1959, three years before independence from Belgium, the majority ethnic group, the Hutus, overthrew the ruling Tutsi king. Over the next several years, thousands of Tutsis were killed, and some 150,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries. The children of these exiles later formed a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and began a civil war in 1990. The war, along with several political and economic upheavals, exacerbated ethnic tensions, culminating in April 1994 in the genocide of roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The Tutsi rebels defeated the Hutu regime and ended the killing in July 1994, but approximately 2 million Hutu refugees - many fearing Tutsi retribution - fled to neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire. Since then, most of the refugees have returned to Rwanda, but several thousand remained in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC; the former Zaire) and formed an extremist insurgency bent on retaking Rwanda, much as the RPF tried in 1990. Despite substantial international assistance and political reforms - including Rwanda's first local elections in March 1999 and its first post-genocide presidential and legislative elections in August and September 2003 - the country continues to struggle to boost investment and agricultural output, and ethnic reconciliation is complicated by the real and perceived Tutsi political dominance. Kigali's increasing centralization and intolerance of dissent, the nagging Hutu extremist insurgency across the border, and Rwandan involvement in two wars in recent years in the neighboring DRC continue to hinder Rwanda's efforts to escape its bloody legacy.

Central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of the Congo

2 00 S, 30 00 E

Africa

slightly smaller than Maryland

0 km (landlocked)

none (landlocked)

temperate; two rainy seasons (February to April, November to January); mild in mountains with frost and snow possible

mostly grassy uplands and hills; relief is mountainous with altitude declining from west to east

gold, cassiterite (tin ore), wolframite (tungsten ore), methane, hydropower, arable land

90 sq km (2003)

5.2 cu km (2003)

periodic droughts; the volcanic Virunga mountains are in the northwest along the border with Democratic Republic of the Congo

deforestation results from uncontrolled cutting of trees for fuel; overgrazing; soil exhaustion; soil erosion; widespread poaching

landlocked; most of the country is savanna grassland with the population predominantly rural

10,473,282

2.782% (2009 est.)

39.67 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)

14.02 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)

2.17 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)

5.25 children born/woman (2009 est.)

2.8% (2007 est.)

150,000 (2007 est.)

7,800 (2007 est.)

Hutu (Bantu) 84%, Tutsi (Hamitic) 15%, Twa (Pygmy) 1%

Roman Catholic 56.5%, Protestant 26%, Adventist 11.1%, Muslim 4.6%, indigenous beliefs 0.1%, none 1.7% (2001)

Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French (official), English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial centers

3.8% of GDP (2005)

Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa

republic; presidential, multiparty system

4 provinces (in French - provinces, singular - province; in Kinyarwanda - intara for singular and plural) and 1 city* (in French - ville; in Kinyarwanda - umujyi); Est (Eastern), Kigali*, Nord (Northern), Ouest (Western), Sud (Southern)

1 July 1962 (from Belgium-administered UN trusteeship)

Independence Day, 1 July (1962)

new constitution passed by referendum 26 May 2003

based on German and Belgian civil law systems and customary law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal

bicameral Parliament consists of Senate (26 seats; 12 members elected by local councils, 8 appointed by the president, 4 by the Political Organizations Forum, 2 represent institutions of higher learning; to serve eight-year terms) and Chamber of Deputies (80 seats; 53 members elected by popular vote, 24 women elected by local bodies, 3 selected by youth and disability organizations; serve five-year terms)

Supreme Court; High Courts of the Republic; Provincial Courts; District Courts; mediation committees

Centrist Democratic Party or PDC [Alfred MUKEZAMFURA]; Democratic Popular Union of Rwanda or UDPR [Adrien RANGIRA]; Democratic Republican Movement or MDR [Celestin KABANDA] (officially banned); Islamic Democratic Party or PDI [Andre BUMAYA]; Liberal Party or PL [Protais MITALI]; Party for Democratic Renewal (officially banned); Rwandan Patriotic Front or RPF [Paul KAGAME]; Social Democratic Party or PSD [Vincent BIRUTA]

IBUKA (association of genocide survivors)

ACP, AfDB, AU, CEPGL, COMESA, EAC, EADB, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURCAT, NAM, OIF, OPCW, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIS, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

three horizontal bands of sky blue (top, double width), yellow, and green, with a golden sun with 24 rays near the fly end of the blue band

Rwanda is a poor rural country with about 90% of the population engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture. It is the most densely populated country in Africa and is landlocked with few natural resources and minimal industry. Primary foreign exchange earners are coffee and tea. The 1994 genocide decimated Rwanda's fragile economic base, severely impoverished the population, particularly women, and eroded the country's ability to attract private and external investment. However, Rwanda has made substantial progress in stabilizing and rehabilitating its economy to pre-1994 levels, although poverty levels are higher now. GDP has rebounded and inflation has been curbed. Despite Rwanda's fertile ecosystem, food production often does not keep pace with population growth, requiring food imports. Rwanda continues to receive substantial aid money and obtained IMF-World Bank Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative debt relief in 2005-06. Rwanda also received Millennium Challenge Account Threshold status in 2006. The government has embraced an expansionary fiscal policy to reduce poverty by improving education, infrastructure, and foreign and domestic investment and pursuing market-oriented reforms, although energy shortages, instability in neighboring states, and lack of adequate transportation linkages to other countries continue to handicap growth.

$9.061 billion (2008 est.)

$8.429 billion (2007)

$7.952 billion (2006)

$4.027 billion (2008 est.)

7.5% (2008 est.)

6% (2007 est.)

5.5% (2006 est.)

$900 (2008 est.)

$900 (2007 est.)

$800 (2006 est.)

4.6 million (2000)

NA%

60% (2001 est.)

46.8 (2000)

22.5% of GDP (2008 est.)

9.5% (2008 est.)

9.1% (2007 est.)

NA% (31 December 2008)

12.5% (31 December 2007)

NA% (31 December 2008)

15.84% (31 December 2007)

$NA (31 December 2008)

$209.2 million (31 December 2005)

$NA

coffee, tea, pyrethrum (insecticide made from chrysanthemums), bananas, beans, sorghum, potatoes; livestock

cement, agricultural products, small-scale beverages, soap, furniture, shoes, plastic goods, textiles, cigarettes

8% (2008 est.)

134 million kWh (2006 est.)

234.6 million kWh (2006 est.)

10 million kWh (2007 est.)

130 million kWh (2007 est.)

0 bbl/day (2007 est.)

5,320 bbl/day (2006 est.)

0 bbl/day (2005)

5,597 bbl/day (2005)

0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)

0 cu m (2007 est.)

0 cu m (2007 est.)

0 cu m (2007 est.)

0 cu m (2007 est.)

56.63 billion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)

$-220 million (2008 est.)

$219 million f.o.b. (2008 est.)

coffee, tea, hides, tin ore

China 8.9%, Germany 6.8%, US 4.9%, Hong Kong 4.8% (2007)

$759 million f.o.b. (2008 est.)

foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, steel, petroleum products, cement and construction material

Kenya 19.6%, Uganda 6.9%, Germany 6.2%, Belgium 5.9%, China 5% (2007)

$657 million (31 December 2008 est.)

$1.4 billion (2004 est.)

Rwandan francs (RWF) per US dollar - 550 (2008 est.), 585 (2007), 560 (2006), 610 (2005), 574.62 (2004)

23,100 (2007)

635,100 (2007)

AM 0, FM 10 (two main FM programs are broadcast through a system of repeaters; international FM programming includes the BBC, VOA, and Deutchewelle) (2007)

2 (2004)

.rw

2,363 (2008)

100,000 (2007)

9 (2008)

Lac Kivu navigable by shallow-draft barges and native craft (2008)

Cyangugu, Gisenyi, Kibuye

Rwandan Defense Forces: Army, Air Force

18 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription (2008)

2.9% of GDP (2006 est.)

fighting among ethnic groups - loosely associated political rebels, armed gangs, and various government forces in Great Lakes region transcending the boundaries of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda - abated substantially from a decade ago due largely to UN peacekeeping, international mediation, and efforts by local governments to create civil societies; nonetheless, 57,000 Rwandan refugees still reside in 21 African states, including Zambia, Gabon, and 20,000 who fled to Burundi in 2005 and 2006 to escape drought and recriminations from traditional courts investigating the 1994 massacres; the 2005 DROC and Rwanda border verification mechanism to stem rebel actions on both sides of the border remains in place