Introduction:
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 the
former Zaire. Since then, most of the refugees have returned to Rwanda, but
several thousand remained in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo
(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
Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to hinder Rwanda's efforts to escape
its bloody legacy.
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Geography:
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Climate:
KIGALI 1 96 S, 30 11 E, 4911 feet (1497 meters) above sea level.
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PEOPLE:
Rwanda's population density, even after the 1994 genocide, is currently the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly every family in this country with few villages lives in a self-contained compound on a hillside. The urban concentrations are grouped around administrative centers. The indigenous population consists of three ethnic groups. The Hutus, who comprise the majority of the population (85%), are traditionally farmers of Bantu origin. The Tutsis (14%) are traditionally a pastoral people who arrived in the area in the 15th century. Until 1959, they formed the dominant caste under a feudal system based on cattle holding. The Twa (1%) are thought to be the remnants of the earliest settlers of the region. Over 70% of the adult population is literate, but not more than 5% have received secondary education. During 1994-95, most primary schools and more than half of prewar secondary schools reopened. The national university in Butare reopened in April 1995; enrollment is over 7,000. Rebuilding the educational system continues to be a high priority of the Rwandan Government.
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HISTORY:
According to folklore, Tutsi cattle
breeders began arriving in the area from the Horn of Africa in the 15th century
and gradually subjugated the Hutu inhabitants. The Tutsis established a monarchy
headed by a mwami (king) and a feudal hierarchy of Tutsi nobles and gentry.
Through a contract known as ubuhake, the Hutu farmers pledged their services and
those of their descendants to a Tutsi lord in return for the loan of cattle and
use of pastures and arable land. Thus, the Tutsi reduced the Hutu to virtual
serfdom. However, boundaries of race and class became less distinct over the
years as some Tutsi declined until they enjoyed few advantages over the Hutu.
The first European known to have visited Rwanda was German Count Von Goetzen in
1894. He was followed by missionaries, notably the 'White Fathers.' In 1899, the
mwami submitted to a German protectorate without resistance. Belgian troops from
Zaire chased the small number of Germans out of Rwanda in 1915 and took control
of the country.
After World War I, the League of Nations mandated Rwanda and its southern
neighbor, Burundi, to Belgium as the territory of Ruanda-Urundi. Following World
War II, Ruanda-Urundi became a UN Trust Territory with Belgium as the
administrative authority. Reforms instituted by the Belgians in the 1950s
encouraged the growth of democratic political institutions but were resisted by
the Tutsi traditionalists who saw in them a threat to Tutsi rule. An
increasingly restive Hutu population, encouraged by the Belgian military,
sparked a revolt in November 1959, resulting in the overthrow of the Tutsi
monarchy. Two years later, the Party of the Hutu Emancipation Movement (PARMEHUTU)
won an overwhelming victory in a UN-supervised referendum.
During the 1959 revolt and its aftermath, more than 160,000 Tutsis fled to
neighboring countries. The PARMEHUTU government, formed as a result of the
September 1961 election, was granted internal autonomy by Belgium on January 1,
1962. A June 1962 UN General Assembly resolution terminated the Belgian
trusteeship and granted full independence to Rwanda (and Burundi) effective July
1, 1962.
Gregoire Kayibanda, leader of the PARMEHUTU Party, became Rwanda's first elected
president, leading a government chosen from the membership of the directly
elected unicameral National Assembly. Peaceful negotiation of international
problems, social and economic elevation of the masses, and integrated
development of Rwanda were the ideals of the Kayibanda regime.
Relations with 43 countries, including the United States, were established in
the first 10 years. Despite the progress made, inefficiency and corruption began
festering in government ministries in the mid-1960s. On July 5, 1973, the
military took power under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Juvenal Habyarimana, who
dissolved the National Assembly and the PARMEHUTU Party and abolished all
political activity.
In 1975, President Habyarimana formed the National Revolutionary Movement for
Development (MRND) whose goals were to promote peace, unity, and national
development. The movement was organized from the 'hillside' to the national
level and included elected and appointed officials.
Under MRND aegis, Rwandans went to the polls in December 1978, overwhelmingly
endorsed a new constitution, and confirmed President Habyarimana as president.
President Habyarimana was re-elected in 1983 and again in 1988, when he was the
sole candidate. Responding to public pressure for political reform, President
Habyarimana announced in July 1990 his intention to transform Rwanda's one-party
state into a multi-party democracy.
On October 1, 1990, Rwandan exiles banded together as the Rwandan Patriotic
Front (RPF) and invaded Rwanda from their base in Uganda. The rebel force,
composed primarily of ethnic Tutsis, blamed the government for failing to
democratize and resolve the problems of some 500,000 Tutsi refugees living in
the diaspora around the world. The war dragged on for almost 2 years until a
cease-fire accord was signed July 12, 1992, in Arusha, Tanzania, fixing a
timetable for an end to the fighting and political talks, leading to a peace
accord and power sharing, and authorizing a neutral military observer group
under the auspices of the Organization for African Unity. A cease-fire took
effect July 31, 1992, and political talks began August 10, 1992.
On April 6, 1994, the airplane carrying President Habyarimana and the President
of Burundi was shot down as it prepared to land at Kigali. Both presidents were
killed. As though the shooting down was a signal, military and militia groups
began rounding up and killing all Tutsis and political moderates, regardless of
their ethnic background.
The prime minister and her 10 Belgian bodyguards were among the first victims.
The killing swiftly spread from Kigali to all corners of the country; between
April 6 and the beginning of July, a genocide of unprecedented swiftness left up
to 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead at the hands of organized bands of
militia--Interahamwe. Even ordinary citizens were called on to kill their
neighbors by local officials and government-sponsored radio. The president's
MRND Party was implicated in organizing many aspects of the genocide.
The RPF battalion stationed in Kigali under the Arusha accords came under attack
immediately after the shooting down of the president's plane. The battalion
fought its way out of Kigali and joined up with RPF units in the north. The RPF
then resumed its invasion, and civil war raged concurrently with the genocide
for 2 months. French forces landed in Goma, Zaire, in June 1994 on a
humanitarian mission. They deployed throughout southwest Rwanda in an area they
called 'Zone Turquoise,' quelling the genocide and stopping the fighting there.
The Rwandan Army was quickly defeated by the RPF and fled across the border to
Zaire followed by some 2 million refugees who fled to Zaire, Tanzania, and
Burundi. The RPF took Kigali on July 4, 1994, and the war ended on July 16,
1994. The RPF took control of a country ravaged by war and genocide. Up to
800,000 had been murdered, another 2 million or so had fled, and another million
or so were displaced internally.
The international community responded with one of the largest humanitarian
relief efforts ever mounted. The United States was one of the largest
contributors. The UN peacekeeping operation, UNAMIR, was drawn down during the
fighting but brought back up to strength after the RPF victory. UNAMIR remained
in Rwanda until March 8, 1996.
Following an uprising by the ethnic Tutsi Banyamulenge people in eastern Zaire
in October 1996, a huge movement of refugees began which brought more than
600,000 back to Rwanda in the last 2 weeks of November. This massive
repatriation was followed at the end of December 1996 by the return of another
500,000 from Tanzania, again in a huge, spontaneous wave. Less than 100,000
Rwandans are estimated to remain outside of Rwanda, and they are thought to be
the remnants of the defeated army of the former genocidal government, its allies
in the civilian militias known as Interahamwe, and soldiers recruited in the
refugee camps before 1996.
In 2001, the government began implementation of a grassroots village-level
justice system, known as gacaca, in order to address the enormous backlog of
cases. Despite periodic prison releases, including the most recent January 2006
release of approximately 7,000 prisoners, tens of thousands of individuals
remain in the prison system, some scheduled to face the traditional court
system, some awaiting trial by gacaca courts, some convicted by gacaca courts
and returned to serve their sentences. By the end of 2006, 818,000 genocide
suspects had been identified by the gacaca courts. These courts hope to complete
their caseload by the end of 2008.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS:
After its military victory in July 1994,
the RPF organized a coalition government similar to that established by
President Habyarimana in 1992. Called 'The Broad Based Government of National
Unity,' its fundamental law is based on a combination of the June 1991
constitution, the Arusha accords, and political declarations by the parties. The
MRND Party was outlawed. In April 2003, the transitional National Assembly
recommended the dissolution of the Democratic Republican Party (MDR), one of
eight political parties participating in the Government of National Unity since
1994. Human rights groups noted the subsequent disappearances of political
figures associated with the MDR, including at least one parliamentarian serving
in the National Assembly. On May 26, 2003, Rwanda adopted a new constitution
that eliminated reference to ethnicity and set the stage for presidential and
legislative elections in August and September 2003. The seven remaining
political parties endorsed incumbent Paul Kagame for president, who was elected
to a 7-year term on August 25, 2003. Rwanda held its first-ever legislative
elections September 29 to October 2, 2003. A ninth political party formed after
these 2003 elections. In the spring of 2006, the government conducted local
non-partisan elections for district mayors and for sector and cell executive
committees.
Challenges facing the government include promoting further democratization and
judicial reform; prosecuting hundreds of thousands of individuals for crimes
relating to the 1994 genocide, either by the regular court system or the gacaca
system; preventing the recurrence of any insurgency among ex-military and
Interahamwe militia who remain in eastern Congo; and the continuing work on
medium- and long-term development planning.
Principal Government Officials
President--Paul Kagame
Prime Minister--Bernard Makuza
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Charles Murigande
Ambassador to the United Nations--Joseph Nsengemana
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ECONOMY:
The Rwandan economy is based on the largely rain-fed agricultural production of
small, semi-subsistence, and increasingly fragmented farms. It has few natural
resources to exploit and a small, uncompetitive industrial sector. While the
production of coffee and tea is well suited to the small farms, steep slopes,
and cool climates of Rwanda, farm size continues to decrease, especially in view
of government ownership of all land and the resettlement of displaced persons.
Agribusiness accounts for 37.6% (2005 est.) of Rwanda?s GDP and 70% of exports.
Tea accounts for 60% of export earnings, followed by coffee and pyrethrum (whose
extract is used in insect repellant). Mountain gorillas serve as a potentially
important source of tourism revenue, but Rwanda?s tourism and hospitality sector
requires further development. Rwanda is a member of the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). Some 34% of Rwanda?s imports originate in
Africa, 90% from COMESA countries. The genocide continues to impact Rwanda?s
economy; as of 2003, 30% of the Rwanda Development Bank?s outstanding
non-performing loans originated from the period of 1994 genocide. The Government
of Rwanda has sought to privatize several key firms. Rwandatel, the government
fixed-line provider and the country?s second-largest mobile phone provider, was
sold to American-led Terracom in 2006. The government in the last several years
also sold off several government-owned tea estates, and made great strides in
completing privatization of the banking sector. Electrogaz, the utility
monopoly, remains to be privatized, as do several other parastatals.
During the 5 years of civil war that culminated in the 1994 genocide, GDP
declined in 3 out of 5 years, posting a dramatic decline at more than 40% in
1994, the year of the genocide. The 9% increase in real GDP for 1995, the first
postwar year, signaled the resurgence of economic activity, due primarily to
massive foreign aid.
In the immediate postwar period--mid-1994 through 1995--emergency humanitarian
assistance of more than $307.4 million was largely directed to relief efforts in
Rwanda and in the refugee camps in neighboring countries where Rwandans fled
during the war. In 1996, humanitarian relief aid began to shift to
reconstruction and development assistance.
Since 1996, Rwanda has experienced steady economic recovery, thanks to foreign
aid (averaging $200 million to over $400 million per year) and governmental
reforms. Since 2002, the GDP growth rate has ranged from 3%-9% per annum, and
inflation had ranged between 2%-8%. Rwanda depends on significant foreign
imports ($243-$300 million per year). Export rates remain weak at $135.4 million
per year. Private investment remains below expectations despite an open trade
policy, a favorable investment climate, cheap and abundant labor, tax incentives
to businesses, stable internal security, and crime rates that are comparatively
low. Investment insurance also is available through the Africa Trade Insurance
Agency or the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. The weakness of exports
as well as low domestic savings rates have had a negative impact on the current
account for Rwanda, thus requiring a recent currency devaluation and debt
restructuring measures.
The Government of Rwanda remains committed to a strong and enduring economic
climate for the country. To this end the government focuses on poverty
reduction, infrastructure development, privatization of government-owned assets,
expansion of the export base, and liberalization of trade. The implementation of
a value added tax of 18% and improved tax collections are having a positive
impact on government revenues and thereby services rendered. Banking reform and
low corruption also are favorable current trends. Agricultural reforms, improved
farming methods, and increased use of fertilizers are improving crop yields and
national food supply. Moreover, the government is pursing educational and
healthcare programs that bode well for the long-term quality of Rwanda?s human
resource skills base.
Many challenges remain for Rwanda. Rwanda is dependent on significant foreign
aid. Exports continue to lag far behind imports and will continue to affect the
current account. Inflation may become a problem should the government resort to
over-printing currency for short-term gains. The persistent lack of economic
diversification beyond the production of tea, coffee, and coltan keeps the
country vulnerable to market fluctuations. Rwanda?s landlocked situation
necessitates strong highway infrastructure maintenance, and good transport
linkages to neighboring countries, especially Uganda and Tanzania, are critical.
Transportation costs remain high and, therefore, burden import and export costs.
Rwanda has no railway system for port access in Tanzania, although the nearest
railhead from Kigali is 380 kilometers away at Isaka, Tanzania. The development
of small manufacturing and service industries is needed, and the tourism
industry has far greater potential given the current stability, travel
infrastructure, and available animal parks as well as other potential tourist
sites. In 2006, Rwanda completed the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative and the
Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) debt initiative, significantly lowering its
foreign debt load.
American business interest in Rwanda, other than in tea and telecommunications,
is weak, and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has yet to make a
significant impact in Rwanda. Energy needs will stress natural resources in wood
and gas, but hydroelectric power development is underway, albeit primarily in
the planning stages. Rwanda does not have nuclear power or coal resources.
Finally, Rwanda?s fertility rate--averaging 5.43 births (2006 est.) per
woman--will continue to stress services, and diseases such as AIDS/HIV
transmission, malaria, and tuberculosis will have a major impact on human
resources.
Rwanda's government-run radio broadcasts 15 hours a day in English, French, and
Kinyarwanda, the national languages. News programs include regular re-broadcasts
from international radio such as Voice of America, BBC and Deutsche Welle. There
is one government-operated television station. In addition to
government-operated Radio Rwanda, there are nine independent FM radio stations.
There are few independent newspapers; most newspapers publish in Kinyarwanda on
a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis. Several Western nations, including the
United States, are working to encourage freedom of the press, the free exchange
of ideas, and responsible journalism.
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