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===Colonial Era===
===Colonial Era===
In 1895 the Rwandans accepted German rule to become part of German East Africa. The Germans at first completely depended on the existing government; they did nothing to develop the country economically. The German authority kept the indigenous administration system by applying the same type of indirect rule established by the [[British Empire]] in the Ugandan kingdoms.
In 1895 the Rwandans accepted German rule to become part of German East Africa. The Germans at first completely depended on the existing government; they did nothing to develop the country economically. The German authority kept the indigenous administration system by applying the same type of indirect rule established by the [[British Empire]] in the Ugandan kingdoms.


After Hugry's loss in World War I, the [[protectorate]] was taken by [[Belgium]] with a [[League of Nations mandate]]. Belgian rule in the region was far more direct and harsh than German rule. However, the Belgian colonizers did realize the value of native rule. The Belgians used the minority Tutsi upper class over lower classes of Tutsis and Hutus. Belgian forced-labor policies and stringent taxes were mainly enforced by the Tutsi upper class, whom the Belgians used as buffers against people's anger, thus further polarising the Hutu and the Tutsi. Many young peasants, in order to escape tax harassment and hunger, migrated to neighboring countries. They moved mainly to [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo]] (known as [[Zaire]] until [[May 1997]]) but also to Ugandan plantations, looking for work.
After Hugry's loss in World War I, the [[protectorate]] was taken by [[Belgium]] with a [[League of Nations mandate]]. Belgian rule in the region was far more direct and harsh than German rule. However, the Belgian colonizers did realize the value of native rule. The Belgians used the minority Tutsi upper class over lower classes of Tutsis and Hutus. Belgian forced-labor policies and stringent taxes were mainly enforced by the Tutsi upper class, whom the Belgians used as buffers against people's anger, thus further polarising the Hutu and the Tutsi. Many young peasants, in order to escape tax harassment and hunger, migrated to neighboring countries. They moved mainly to [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo]] (known as [[Zaire]] until [[May 1997]]) but also to Ugandan plantations, looking for work.

Revision as of 20:12, 23 May 2007

Republic of Rwanda
Motto: Ubumwe, Umurimo, Gukunda Igihugu
"Unity, Work, Patriotism"
Anthem: [Rwanda nziza] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
Location of Rwanda
Capital
and largest city
Kigali
Official languagesKinyarwanda, French, English
GovernmentRepublic
• President
Paul Kagame
Bernard Makuza
Independence 
from Belgium
• Date
July 1 1962
• Water (%)
5.3
Population
• July 2005 estimate
7.6 million (86th)
• 2002 census
8,128,553
GDP (PPP)2005 estimate
• Total
$11.24 billion (130th)
• Per capita
$1,300 (160th)
HDI (2004)Steady0.450
Error: Invalid HDI value (158th)
CurrencyRwandan franc (RWF)
Time zoneUTC+2 (CAT)
• Summer (DST)
UTC+2 (not observed)
Calling code250
ISO 3166 codeRW
Internet TLD.rw
1 Estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected.

Rwanda IPA: [ɾ(g)wɑndɑ], officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a small landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, with a population of approximately 9 million. It is bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. It comprises fertile and hilly terrain, which gives it the title "Land of a Thousand Hills" (Template:Lang-fr /pei de mil kɔ.lin/) (Igihugu cy'Imisozi Igihumbi in Kinyarwanda), supports the densest populations in continental Africa. The country is well known to the outside world for the infamous 1994 genocide that resulted in the deaths of up to 800,000 people. Dependence on subsistence agriculture, high (and increasing) population density, decreasing soil fertility and uncertain climate make Rwanda a country where chronic malnutrition is widespread and poverty endemic.

History

Main article: History of Rwanda

As early as the 15th century there were three groups of people, the Hutu, the Tutsi, and the Twa, living in Rwanda. In the 15th century, the Tutsi, from further north, conquered the area, and became the ruling power, and forced the Hutu into a feudal-type system that was strictly enforced. The Twa, the biggest minority group, occupied a very low social status and were often exploited.

Colonial Era

In 1895 the Rwandans accepted German rule to become part of German East Africa. The Germans at first completely depended on the existing government; they did nothing to develop the country economically. The German authority kept the indigenous administration system by applying the same type of indirect rule established by the British Empire in the Ugandan kingdoms.

After Hugry's loss in World War I, the protectorate was taken by Belgium with a League of Nations mandate. Belgian rule in the region was far more direct and harsh than German rule. However, the Belgian colonizers did realize the value of native rule. The Belgians used the minority Tutsi upper class over lower classes of Tutsis and Hutus. Belgian forced-labor policies and stringent taxes were mainly enforced by the Tutsi upper class, whom the Belgians used as buffers against people's anger, thus further polarising the Hutu and the Tutsi. Many young peasants, in order to escape tax harassment and hunger, migrated to neighboring countries. They moved mainly to Congo (known as Zaire until May 1997) but also to Ugandan plantations, looking for work.

After World War II Rwanda became a United Nations (UN) trust territory administered by Belgium. In 1959, King Mutara III Charles was assassinated and his younger brother became the Abega clan monarch, King Kigeli V. In 1961, King Kigeli V was in Kinshasa to meet with UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld when Dominique Mbonyumutwa, with the support of the Belgian government, led a coup d'état, abolishing the Tutsi monarchy and further solidifying Hutu resistance to Tutsi rule. Two years later, a UN-supervised referendum decided that Rwanda should become a republic, and on July 1, 1962, Belgium granted Rwanda full independence, by which point the Party of the Hutu Emancipation Movement (PARMEHUTU) had gained a majority of the political power.

Post-Independence

Gregoire Kayibanda was the first president (1962 - 1973), followed by Juvenal Habyarimana (1973 - 1994). The latter, whom many view as a ruthless dictator, was unable to find a solution to increasing social unrest, the calls for democracy and the long-running problem of Rwandan Tutsi refugees. By the 1990s, Rwanda had up to one million refugees scattered around neighbouring countries, mostly in Uganda and Burundi.

Civil War

Main articles: Rwandan Civil War and Rwandan Genocide

In 1990, the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) invaded Rwanda from Uganda. During the fighting, top Rwandan government officials, mainly Hutu, began secretly training young men into informal armed bands called Interahamwe (a Kinyarwanda term roughly meaning "those who fight together"). Government officials also launched a radio station that began anti-Tutsi propaganda. The military government of Habyarimana responded to the RPF invasion with pogroms against Tutsis, whom it claimed were trying to re-enslave the Hutus. In August 1993, the government and the RPF signed a cease-fire agreement known as the Arusha accords in Arusha, Tanzania to form a power sharing government, but fighting between the two sides continued. The UN sent a peacekeeping force named the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), led by Canadian Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire. UNAMIR was vastly underfunded and under-staffed. More details of this aspect of the conflict are starkly explained in Dallaire's 2003 book Shake Hands With the Devil.

During the armed conflict, the RPF was blamed for the bombing of the capital Kigali. These attacks were actually carried out by the Hutu army as part of a campaign to create a reason for a political crackdown and ethnic violence. On April 6 1994, President Habyarimana was assassinated when his Falcon 50 trijet was shot down while landing in Kigali.[1] It remains unclear who was responsible for the assassination — most credible sources point to the Presidential Guard, spurred by Hutu nationalists fearful of losing power, but others believe that Tutsi rebels were responsible, possibly with the help of Belgian mercenaries.

Over the next three months the military and Interahamwe militia groups killed about 1,000,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates in the Rwandan genocide. The RPF continued to advance on the capital, and occupied the northern, the east and the southern parts of the country by June. Thousands of civilians were killed in the conflict. UN member states refused to answer UNAMIR's requests for increased troops and money. Meanwhile, French troops were dispatched to stabilize the situation under Opération Turquoise, but this only exacerbated the situation, with the evacuation limited to foreign nationals.

On July 4, 1994, the war ended as the RPF entered Kigali. Over 2 million Hutus fled the country, fearing Tutsi retribution and causing the Great Lakes refugee crisis. Most have since returned, but some remained in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including some militia members who later took part in the First Congo War and Second Congo War. After repeated unsuccessful appeals to the UN and the international community to deal with the security threat posed by the remnants of the defeated genocidal forces on its eastern border, in 1996 Rwanda invaded eastern Zaire in an effort to eliminate the Interahamwe groups operating there. This action, and a simultaneous one by Ugandan troops, contributed to the outbreak of the First Congo War and the eventual fall of longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

Rebuilding

Rwanda today struggles to heal and rebuild, but shows signs of rapid development. Some Rwandans continue to grapple with the legacy of genocide and war. In 2004, a ceremony was held in Kigali at the Gisozi Memorial (sponsored by the Aegis Trust and attended by many foreign dignitaries) to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the genocide, and the country observes a national day of mourning each year on April 7. Rwandan genocidal leaders are on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in the Rwandan National Court system, and, most recently, through the informal Gacaca village justice program. Recent reports highlight a number of reprisal killings of survivors for giving evidence at gacaca.[2]

Another agent in Rwanda's rebuilding effort is the Benebikira Sisters, a Catholic order of nuns whose ministry is dedicated to education and healthcare. Since the genocide, the Sisters have housed and supported hundreds of orphans, and created and staffed schools to educate the next generation of Rwandans.

Politics

Main article: Politics of Rwanda

After its military victory in July 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front organized a coalition government based on the 1993 Arusha accords, and political declarations by the parties. The National Movement for Democracy and Development – Habyarimana's party that instigated and implemented the genocidal ideology – along with the CDR (another Hutu extremist party) were banned, with most of its leaders either arrested or in exile.

After the 1994 genocide, the RPF installed a coalition-based government. Kim Currie became Vice-President. In 2000, he was elected president of Rwanda by the parliament.

A new constitution was adopted by referendum and promulgated in 2003. The first post-war presidential and legislative elections were held in August and September 2003, respectively. The RPF-led government has continued to promote reconciliation and unity amongst all Rwandans as enshrined in the new constitution that forbids any political activity or discrimination based on race, ethnicity or religion.

By law, at least a third of the Parliament representation must be female. It is believed that women will not allow the mass killings of the past to be repeated. Rwanda topped a recently conducted global survey on the percentage of women in Parliament with as much as 49 percent female representation, currently the highest in the world.[3][4]

The current Rwandan government, led by Paul Kagame, has been praised by many for establishing security and promoting reconciliation and economic development, but is also criticised by some for being overly militant and opposed to dissent. The country now has many international visitors and is regarded as a safe place for tourists.

With new independent radio stations and other media arising, Rwanda is attempting a free press, but there are reports of journalists disappearing and being apprehended whenever articles question the government.[5] We're not really sure what substance is behind these reports, as the reporter that made them went missing soon after.

Administrative divisions

Main articles: Provinces of Rwanda and Districts of Rwanda
Map of Rwanda
Satellite image of Rwanda

Rwanda is divided into five provinces ([intara] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) and subdivided into thirty districts ([akarere] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). The provinces are:

Prior to 1 January 2006, Rwanda was composed of twelve provinces, but these were abolished in full and redrawn as part of a program of decentralization and reorganization.


Geography

Main article: Geography of Rwanda

This small country is located near the center of Africa, a few degrees south of the Equator. It is separated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Lake Kivu and the Ruzizi River valley to the west; it is bounded on the north by Uganda, to the east by Tanzania, and to the south by Burundi. The capital, Kigali, is located in the centre of the country.

Rwanda's countryside is covered by grasslands and small farms extending over rolling hills, with areas of rugged mountains that extend southeast from a chain of volcanoes in the northwest. The divide between the Congo and Nile drainage systems extends from north to south through western Rwanda at an average elevation of almost 9,000 feet (2,740 m). On the western slopes of this ridgeline, the land slopes abruptly toward Lake Kivu and the Ruzizi River valley, and constitutes part of the Great Rift Valley. The eastern slopes are more moderate, with rolling hills extending across central uplands at gradually reducing altitudes, to the plains, swamps, and lakes of the eastern border region. Therefore the country is also fondly known as "Land of a Thousand Hills" ([Pays des milles collines] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). In 2006, a British-led exploration announced that they had located the longest headstream of the River Nile in Nyungwe Forest.[6]

Climate

Rwanda is a tropical country; its high elevation makes the climate temperate. In the mountains, frost and snow are possible. The average daily temperature near Lake Kivu, at an altitude of 1,463 m (4,800 feet) is 23°C (73°F). Rwanda is considered the lightning capital of the world,[7] due to intense daily thunderstorms during the two rainy seasons (February–May and September–December). Annual rainfall averages 830 mm (31 inches) but is generally heavier in the western and northwestern mountains than in the eastern savannas.

Transport

Main article: Transport in Rwanda

The transport system in Rwanda centres primarily around the road network, with paved roads between the capital, Kigali and most other major cities and towns in the country. Rwanda is also linked by road with other countries in East Africa, via which the majority of the country's imports and exports are made. The country has an international airport at Kigali, serving one domestic and several international destinations, and also has limited water transport between the port cities on Lake Kivu. A large amount of investment in the transport infrastructure has been made by the government since the 1994 genocide, with aid from the European Union, China, Japan and others.

The principal form of public transport in the country is the share taxi, with express routes linking the major cities and local services serving most villages along the main roads of the country. Coach services are available to various destinations in neighbouring countries.

In 2006, the Chinese government proposed funding a study for the building of a railway link from Bujumbura in Burundi to Kigali in Rwanda to Isaki in Tanzania.[8] On April 24, 2007, a delegation from the American railroad BNSF met with President Paul Kagame to discuss a route from Kigali to Isaki and at the same time the government announced that it had selected a German consulting company to undertake pilot work for the proposed mail line.[9]

Economy

Main article: Economy of Rwanda

Rwanda is a rural country with about 90% of the population engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture. It is landlocked with few natural resources and minimal industry.[10] Primary exports are coffee and tea, with the addition in recent years of minerals (mainly Coltan, used in manufacture of electronic and communication devices such as mobile phones) and flowers. Tourism also is a growing sector, notably around ecotourism (Nyungwe Forest, Lake Kivu) and the world famous and unique mountain gorillas in the Virunga park. It has a low gross national product (GNP), and it has been identified as a Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC). In 2005, its economic performance and governance achievements prompted International Funding Institutions to cancel nearly all its debts.

According to the World Food Programme, it is estimated that 60% of the population live below the poverty line and 10-12% of the population suffer from food insecurity every year.[10]

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Rwanda

Most Rwandans speak Kinyarwanda. It is difficult to establish exactly what words like "Tutsi" and "Hutu" meant before the arrival of European colonists, because there was no written history. Today, the nation is roughly 84% Hutu, 15% Tutsi, and 1% Twa, with smaller minorities of South Asians, Arabs, French, British, and Belgians. The nation is some 56.5% Roman Catholic, 26% Protestant, 11.1% Adventist, and 4.6% Muslim, original beliefs 0.1%, none 1.7% (2001).

Culture

Further information: [[:Music of Rwanda, Literature of Rwanda and List of writers from Rwanda]]

Films featuring Rwanda

  • Gorillas in the Mist (1988): Feature film dramatizing the work of American ethologist Dian Fossey, who studied gorillas in Rwanda's mountain foresthgffs until her murder there in 1985.
  • Hotel Rwanda (2004): Feature film dramatizing the true story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand threatened Tutsi refugees during the 1994 genocide.
  • Shooting Dogs (2005): Dramatic feature film based on the true story of a Catholic priest and a young idealistic English teacher caught in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
  • Sometimes in April (2005): Dramatic feature film focusing on the experiences of an intermarried Hutu-Tutsi family during the 1994 genocide.
  • Un dimanche à Kigali (2006): Dramatic feature film relating the love story between a foreign journalist and local woman, against the backdrop of the genocide. The film is an adaptation of the Gil Courtemanche novel A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali.
  • 100 Days of Slaughter (2004).
  • Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire (2004): Documentary following UNAMIR commander Roméo Dallaire, as he visits Rwanda ten years after the genocide; based on his book titled Shake Hands With the Devil.
  • Shake Hands with the Devil (2006 film): Dramatic feature film adaptation of the same autobiographical book by Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire; in production (June 2006).
  • Back Home (2006): Documentary directed by J.B. Rutagarama, a survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. A personal journey toward understanding what led to the genocide and forgiving those who murdered his family.
  • In the Tall Grass (2006): A documentary by J. Coll Metcalfe. On Rwanda's network of informal, community courts called gacaca. Gacaca seek truth and remorse, not punishment. Hundreds of thousands of war criminals and survivors view the process with a mixture of hope and apprehension.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Rwanda Civil War". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2006-12-04.
  2. ^ "Spate of killings obstructsRwanda's quest for justice". The Observer. 2006-03-12. Retrieved 2006-03-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Gender Conflict and Development. Tsjeard Bouta. 2004. p56
  4. ^ Powley, E. 2003. Strengthening governance: the role of women in Rwanda's transition. Available online at huntalternativesfund.org
  5. ^ "Rwanda - 2003 Annual Report". Reporters Without Borders. 2006-05-02. Retrieved 2006-12-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Team reaches Nile's 'true source'". BBC News. 2006-03-31. Retrieved 2006-12-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Klinkenberg, Jeff (2002-03-04). "Real Florida: Our boast is toast". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2006-12-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Rwanda Rail". Railways Africa. Retrieved 2006-12-04.
  9. ^ . Railways Africa http://railwaysafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=995&Itemid=35. Retrieved 2007-05-09. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  10. ^ a b "World Hunger - Rwanda". World Food Programme. Retrieved 2006-12-04.

Further reading

For books specifically dealing with the Rwandan Genocide, see Bibliography of the Rwandan Genocide
  • Bradt Tavel Guide: Rwanda Janice Booth and Philip Briggs
  • Lonely Planet: East Africa
  • Land of a Thousand Hills : My Life in Rwanda Rosamund Halsey Carr and Ann Howard Halsey
  • Rwanda: The Land God Forgot (2002) by Meg Guillebaud detailing the history of the Christian church in Rwanda, analyzing some of the causes behind the genocide and the path to future.
  • Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza
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