Rwanda

Rwanda, formerly Ruanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley where the African Great Lakes region and East Africa converge.

The country lies south of the Equator in east-central Africa. Known for its breathtaking scenery, Rwanda is often referred to as ‘le pays des mille collines’ (French: ‘land of a thousand hills’). It’s total area is Km2 26,338, with a population density estimated to be 445 people per km².

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Rwanda, also spelled Ruanda, the peoples of the Republic of Rwanda who speak an Interlacustrine Bantu language known as Rwanda (also known as Kinyarwanda). The Rwanda are divided into two main groups: the Hutu, traditionally farmers; and the Tutsi, traditionally cattle-owning pastoralists. A small third group, the Pygmy Twa, are hunters and potters. The Rwanda language is mutually intelligible with Rundi, which is spoken in Burundi. Rwanda peoples live as refugees in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda. More than 12 million people speak the Rwanda language.

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The country is a presidential republic with a multi-party system. Head of State and Head of Government is the President. Rwandan President is elected by popular vote every seven years, he appoints the Prime Minister and all other members of Cabinet.

History

For centuries, Rwanda existed as a centralized monarchy under a succession of Tutsi kings from one clan, who ruled through cattle chiefs, land chiefs and military chiefs. The king was supreme but the rest of the population, Bahutu, Batutsi and Batwa, lived in symbiotic harmony. In 1899, Rwanda became a German colony and, in 1919, the system of indirect rule continued with Rwanda as a mandate territory of the League of Nations, under Belgium.

From 1959, Batutsi were targeted, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and sending almost two million of them into exile. The First Republic, under President Gregoire Kayibanda, and the second, under President Juvenal Habyarimana, institutionalized discrimination against Batutsi and subjected them to period massacres.

The Rwandese Alliance for National Unity (RANU) was formed in 1979 by Rwandan refugees in exile, to mobilize against divisive politics and genocide ideology, repeated massacres, statelessness and the lack of peaceful political exchange. In 1987, RANU became the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF). On 1 October 1990, the RPF launched an armed liberation struggle that ultimately ousted the dictatorship in 1994 and ended the genocide which cost more than one million lives Batutsi and moderate Bahutu who opposed the genocidal regime.

After Kigali fell to RPA (RPF’s armed wing) on 4 July 1994, RPF formed a Government of National Unity headed by President Pasteur Bizimungu, bringing parties that did not participate in the genocide together. In 2000, Parliament voted out President Pasteur Bizimungu and RPF appointed then Vice-President and Minister of Defence, Major General Paul Kagame as the President of the Republic to lead the coalition government.

In 2003 President Paul Kagame was elected with landslide majority to serve a term of seven years. During those seven years, the country made unprecedented socio-economic and political progress and consolidated peace, stability as well as social cohesion among Rwandans. In 2010 and 2017, President Paul Kagame was re-elected to serve the second and third term respectively, on a platform of rapid development for the transformation of the lives of all Rwandans.

Rwandan Genocide

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On April 6, 1994, Hutus began slaughtering the Tutsis in the African country of Rwanda. As the brutal killings continued, the world stood idly by and just watched the slaughter. Lasting 100 days, the Rwandan Genocide left approximately 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu sympathizers dead.

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Freedom of Expression

State interference and intimidation have forced many civil society actors and journalists to stop working on sensitive political or human rights issues. Most print and broadcast media continued to be heavily dominated by pro-government views. Independent civil society organizations are very weak, and few document and expose human rights violations by state agents.

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Constantin Tuyishimire, a journalist with TV1 Rwanda who covers northern Rwanda, was reported missing in July while he was supposed to be on a reporting trip to Gicumbi District. Authorities said they believed he had probably fled to Uganda due to unpaid debts, although people close to him could not confirm this.

The BBC Kinyarwanda service remained suspended, as it has been since 2014.

Tourism

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Rwanda is a relatively stable East African country, and easily accessible from Kenya and Uganda.It is relatively easy, safe and simple to travel around. Rwanda is not only the land of a thousand hills, but also a country rich in flora and fauna and stunning natural beauty in its scenic rolling and breathtaking green savannah.

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Rwanda has many lakes, the largest being Lake Kivu. It is one of the twenty deepest lakes in the world. Other sizeable lakes include Burera, Ruhondo, Muhazi, Rweru, and Ihema. Ihema is the largest of a string of lakes in the eastern plains of Akagera National Park.

Rwanda has two rainy seasons, March – May and October – November, with an average rainfall of 110-200 mm per month.

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The average Temperature ranges from 24.6 to 27.6ºc, with the Hottest months being August, and September.

The Main water bodies are Lake Kivu, Lake Muhazi, Lake Ihema, Lake Bulera, Lake Ruhondo, Lake Mugesera.

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Rwanda’s Vegetation ranges from dense equatorial forest in the north-west of the country to tropical savannah in the east.

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Main National Parks/Animal Reserves are Akagera, Volcanoes and Gishwati-Mukura National Parks.

In Rwanda the great animals of the wild are protected from poachers and roam free in the vast national parks. The Volcanoes National Park in the Virunga volcanic mountains with its high altitude forests is world famous for mountain gorillas – timid and passive family oriented giants. The Park is teeming with wildlife both large and small, while Lake Kivu to the west offers beautiful beaches, jutting peninsulas and an archipelago of islands.

People & Culture

With an estimated total population of 12.3 million people, Rwanda is a relatively young country.  50 percent of the Rwandan population is under 20 years old, with the median age standing at 22.7 years old.

Rwandans share cultural values notably unity, patriotism, social cohesion, resilience, hard work among others, with Kinyarwanda being the common language, spoken in all parts the country. Other official languages are English, French and Kiswahili.

The country’s rich culture has become as a source of inspiration to craft some unconventional, home grown solutions to address the challenges and the consequences of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. These include among others, Umuganda (Community work), Imihigo (Performance contracts), Gacaca [traditional] courts, Abunzi.

Umuganura or harvest day remains the country’s largest festivity where Rwandans from all corners of the country meet to celebrate achievements in different sectors and recommit to doubling effort to achieve more.

Music and dance make an integral part of Rwandan ceremonies, with Umushayayo and Intore dances having won the hearts of cultural performance lovers.

Rwandan artcrafts display high level of skills and creativity in the country of thousand hills, with Agaseke or handwoven basket having won international acclaim. Imigongo pattern and Rwanda’s growing fashion industry have also become iconic of the Made in Rwanda brand.

Rwanda is a cash-based society but presently electronic payments and online banking should be used wherever possible. Only large hotels accept credit cards. Find out which credit cards your hotel accepts before you travel. You can only cash traveller’s cheques at commercial banks.

Free Visa

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Citizens from the African Union, Commonwealth & La Francophonie member countries get free 30-day visa upon arrival.

Education

The Government of Rwanda has laid out ambitious plans for transforming the country into a knowledge-based economy built on a skilled workforce that is able to compete both regionally and internationally.

In sub-Saharan Africa, Rwanda is one of the top-performing countries in education. 98 per cent of children are enrolled in primary school. However, there are still several challenges in education. Although nearly every child enrolls into primary school, only 71 per cent of children complete their primary education.

There are two official languages of instruction throughout the Rwandan educational system: Kinyarwanda in primary school (P1-P3) and English from P4 through University. French and Swahili are taught as an elective or a supplemental subject in public primary and secondary schools. Some private primary and high schools have both Francophone and Anglophone systems which use French or English, respectively, as languages of instruction at any and all grade levels. Students in these schools take either language as an elective or a supplementary subject.

Refugees in Rwanda are granted the right to work and the government has a policy of progressively integrating refugees into national systems for health and education. Primary health care is provided in the camps by humanitarian staff and refugees are sent to local health facilities for secondary and tertiary referrals.

Economy

The economy of Rwanda has undergone rapid industrialisation due to a successful governmental policy. The Government of Rwanda is actively working to develop the economy and reform the financial and business sectors – improving the business climate dramatically between 2010 and 2016, increasing its rank from 139 to 62 on the annual World Bank Doing Business Report. Rwanda is the second easiest place to do business in Africa (Doing Business, World Bank 2020). Since the early-2000s, Rwanda has witnessed an economic boom improving the living standards of many Rwandans. The Government’s progressive visions have been the catalyst for the fast transforming economy.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Rwanda was worth 9.80 billion US dollars in 2019, according to official data from the World Bank and projections from Trading Economics. The GDP value of Rwanda represents 0.01 percent of the world economy.

Rwanda’s strong economic growth was accompanied by substantial improvements in living standards, with a two-thirds drop in child mortality and near-universal primary school enrollment. A strong focus on homegrown policies and initiatives has contributed to significant improvement in access to services and human development indicators.

It’s economic freedom score is 70.9, making its economy the 33rd freest in the 2020 Index. Its overall score has decreased by 0.2 point due to a drop in the government integrity score.

Rwanda  has made progress in developing national and local government institutions, economic development, maintaining security, promoting reconciliation, achieving Millennium Development Goals, and strengthening the justice system.