Kigali

Kigali
Kigali, Rwanda
Kigali Map of Rwanda showing the location of Kigali.
Coordinates: 1°56′38″S 30°3′34″E
Country	Rwanda
Province	Kigali City
Government
• Mayor	Fidele Ndayisaba
Area
• Total	730 km2 (280 sq mi)
Elevation	1,567 m (5,141 ft)
Population (2009)
• Total	965,398
• Density	1,165.8/km2 (3,019/sq mi)
	estimated
Time zone	CAT (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	none (UTC+2)
Districts 1. Gasabo 2. Kicukiro 3. Nyarugenge
Website	www.kigalicity.gov.rw

Kigali, population 965,398 (2009), is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is situated near the geographic centre of the nation, and has been the economic, cultural, and transport hub of Rwanda since it became capital at independence in 1962. The main residence and offices of the President of Rwanda are located in the city, as are the government ministries. The city is coterminous with the province of Kigali City, which was enlarged in January 2006 as part of local government reorganisation in the country. The city's urban area covers about 70% of the municipal boundaries.

History

Kigali was founded in 1907 under German colonial rule, but did not become the capital until Rwandan independence in 1962. The traditional capital was the seat of the mwami (king) in Nyanza, while the colonial seat of power was in Butare, then known as Astrida. Butare was initially the leading contender to be the capital of the new independent nation, but Kigali was chosen because of its more central location. Since then the city has grown very quickly and is now the major political, economic and cultural centre of Rwanda.

Mount Kigali and one of the Northern suburbs

Beginning on April 6, 1994, Kigali was the scene of the Rwandan Genocide — the slaughter of approximately one million Tutsi and moderate Hutu by Hutu militias (interahamwe), and some members of the Rwandan army — and of fierce fighting between the army (mostly Hutu) and Tutsi-dominated Rwandese Patriotic Front. Although damaged, the city's structure has recovered.

Geography

Northern Kigali suburb

Kigali seen from Spot Satellite

Climate chart for Kigali

Kigali International Airport

A row of minibus share taxis waiting to depart in Kigali, Rwanda

The Mille Collines hotel

The city is built in hilly country, sprawling across about four ridges and the valleys in between. The city centre is located on one of these ridges, with the main government area on another. The tops of the ridges have an average elevation of 1,600m (5,246 ft) while the valleys are around 1,300m (4,270 ft). The bigger houses and office buildings tend to be on the tops of the ridges, while the poorer people live in the valleys. The city is ringed most of the way round by higher hills, with some suburban sprawl rising up these. The highest of these is Mt. Kigali, with an elevation of 1,850m (6,075 ft) above sea level.

Economy

Tin ore (cassiterite) is mined nearby, and the city built a smelting plant in the 1980s. Business in Rwanda is growing, and many new buildings are emerging across the city, including the BCDI Tower, Centenary House and Kigali Tower. Tourism provide important input into the economy also.^{[citation needed]}

Journalist Deroy Murdock on a trip to Rwanda in 2011 wrote about the economic growth.

Rwanda’s real GDP growth averaged 8.3 percent between 2002 and 2009. Per capita GDP swelled those years from $206 to $520 or 252 percent. While 47 percent of Rwandans enjoyed clean water in 2000, 75 percent were so fortunate in 2010. While 78 percent of the country was considered poor in 1995, that number stood at 57 percent in 2009.

Education

Lycée de Kigali is the second largest secondary school in Rwanda, after the Groupe Scolaire in Butare. Green Hills Academy,in the upscale suburb of Nyarutarama, is a top private school, offering IB at A level, and the Cambridge International Program at O level. It is a PASCH partner school offering German. It has a 50/50 English-French curriculum as well.

Administration and government

Kigali is a province-level city governed by a city council who appoints an executive committee to run the day-to-day operations of the city. The executive committee consists of a mayor and two deputies. The city is split into three administrative districts called sectors: Gasabo, Kicukiro, and Nyarugenge. It contained parts of the former province of Kigali Rural.

Transportation

The city has an international airport, Kigali International Airport, with passenger connections daily to Nairobi and Entebbe. The airport is somewhat limited by its location on the top of a hill, and a brand new one is being considered in the Nyamata area, some 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Kigali.

International

There are several daily coach services which depart from Kigali to destinations in East Africa. Most leave from the Nyabugogo bus station. These services include:

• Jaguar Executive Coaches, which connects Kigali to Kampala, the Ugandan capital, via Gatuna or via Kayonza and Kagitumba.
• Akamba Bus Services, which runs services to Kampala (8 hours), Nairobi, Kenya (24 hours), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (36 hours)and Mombasa, Kenya (32 hours)
• Onatracom Express - a Rwandan government service using quite basic buses, running between Kigali and Kampala.
• Yahoo Car Express - A minibus service running between Kigali and Bujumbura, Burundi.
• Kampala Coach Ltd, which runs services to Kampala (8 hours), Nairobi, Kenya (24 hours), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (36 hours)and Mombasa, Kenya (32 hours)

National

Kigali is the hub of the Rwanda transport network, with hourly express bus routes to all major towns in the country. The major nationwide companies are Atraco, Stella, Omega, Okapi, Impala (minibuses), and Onatracom, which offers a big bus service, while Volcano Express (to Butare), Virunga Express and Onatracom (to Ruhengeri), Muhabura Express (to Ruhengeri and Gisenyi) serve specific destinations and follow a set schedule. There are also taxi minibus services (matatus) leaving from Kigali, which also go through to the major towns, but some of them stop frequently along the route to pick people up and set them down.

Local

Public transport within Kigali is exclusively by taxi minibus (matatu), routes, connecting the main hubs of Mu (Mujyi) (the city centre), Nyabugogo, Kacyiru, Kimironko and Remera. Similar to the national taxi minibuses, these services wait to fill up before setting off from the terminus, then pick up and drop off frequently en route.

Private hire

Kigali has many taxis (known as 'special hire' or 'taxi voiture'), which are generally white with an orange stripe down the side. There are also motorbike taxis ('taxi moto'), which offer a service similar to a taxi, but for lower prices, typically in the range 300-1000 FRW. Though fine on major roads, on crowded city streets, motorbike taxis are not for the faint hearted or under-insured.

Points of interest

Kigali houses several memorials, museums, and centers dedicated to the Rwandan Genocide, including the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre.

The city now has international class hotels, some played a role in history:

• The Mille Collines in the Kiyovu area. This hotel became a refugee centre during the genocide, as famously depicted in the film Hotel Rwanda (although the hotel shown in the film is in fact in South Africa). It is also the setting for the famous novel Un dimanche à la piscine à Kigali, by Quebecer Gil Courtemanche, and its movie adaptation Un dimanche à Kigali.
• The Kigali Serena Hotel, formerly known as the InterContinental Kigali. Formerly a Belgian-owned hotel known as the Diplomates, the hotel was briefly portrayed in the second half of Hotel Rwanda. It was later bought by the InterContinental Hotels group and remodeled in 2003.

Downtown Kigali as viewed from the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre

Sister cities

• Kampala, Uganda
• San Bernardino, United States

External links

• Official Website of Kigali City
• Satellite Image of Kigali from Google Earth.
• Living in Kigali