1 History

Main article: History of Rwanda

Since independence in 1962, the history of Rwanda has been marked by ethnic conflict between the Tutsis and the Hutus.

In 1990, the Tutsi-dominated Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) invaded Rwanda from their base in Uganda. The military government of Juvenal Habyarimana responded with genocidal pogroms against Tutsis, who it claimed were trying to re-enslave the Hutus. Fighting continued until 1992, when the government and the RPF signed a cease-fire agreement known as the Arusha accords in Arusha, Tanzania.

In 1994, President Habyarimana was killed in a plane crash and over the next two months, the military and militia groups killed over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates in the Rwandan Genocide. The RPF launched another invasion, and captured the northern part of the country by July. The war ended as the French peacekeepers secured the southern part of the country.

Over 2 million Hutus fled the country after the war, fearing Tutsi retribution. Most have since returned, although some militias remain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and have become involved in that country's civil war.

2 Politics

Main article: Politics of Rwanda

After its military victory in July 1994, the Rwandese Patriotic Front organized a coalition government similar to that established by President Juvenal Habyarimana in 1992. Called the Broad Based Government of National Unity, its fundamental law is based on a combination of the constitution, the 1993 Arusha accords, and political declarations by the parties. Habyarimana's National Movement for Democracy and Development was outlawed.

Political organizing was banned until 2003. The first post-war presidential and legislative elections were held in August and September 2003, respectively.

3 Prefectures

Main article: Prefectures of Rwanda

Rwanda is divided into 12 prefectures:

Butare Byumba Cyangugu Gikongoro

Gisenyi Gitarama Kibungo Kibuye

Kigali Kigali City Umutara Ruhengeri

4 Geography

Main article: Geography of Rwanda

This small country is located near the centre 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. On the western slopes of this ridgeline, the land slopes abruptly toward Lake Kivu and the Ruzizi River valley, and constitute 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.

5 Economy

Main article: Economy of Rwanda

Rwanda is a rural country with about 90% of the population engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture. It is the most densely populated country in Africa; is landlocked; and has few natural resources and minimal industry. Primary exports are coffee and tea.

6 Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Rwanda

Rwanda's population density, even after the 1994 genocide, is among 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.

7 Culture

Main article: Culture of Rwanda

• Music of Rwanda
• List of writers from Rwanda

8 Timeline

8.1 April 7 (Day 1)

Estimated Death Toll 8,000

Hutu gunman began tracking down and killing moderate Hutu politicians and Tutsi leaders. U.S. Ambassador in Rwanda tells Washington that killings in Rwanda don't just involve politicians but genocide.

U.S. makes decision to evacuate all Americans.

Canadian General Romeo Dallaire, head of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Rwanda, is told by headquarters not to intervene and to avoid armed conflict.

8.2 April 9, 10, 11 (Day 4)

Estimated death toll 32,000

9 Miscellaneous topics

• Communications in Rwanda
• Transportation in Rwanda
• Military of Rwanda
• Foreign relations of Rwanda
• Holidays in Rwanda
• List of cities in Rwanda
• We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families

10 External links

• Leave None To Tell The Story A book by the Human Rights Watch published online
• Interactive Guide: Rwanda - remembering the genocide - The Guardian

11 Further reading

• Barnett, Michael. 2002. Eyewitness to a Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda. Cornell University Press.
• Jean-Pierre Chretien. 2003. Great Lakes of Africa: Two Thousand Years of History. Zone Books. BooksEnthsiast.com
• Dallaire, Roméo A., 2003. Shake Hands With the Devil : The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda, Toronto: Random House Canada. BooksEnthsiast.com
• Philip Gourevitch. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda. BooksEnthsiast.com
• Human Rights Watch. 1999. Leave None Left To Tell The Story (Genocide In Rwanda - The Planning And Execution Of Mass Murder). BooksEnthsiast.com
• Gérard Prunier. 1995. The Rwanda crisis: history of a genocide. Columbia University Press. BooksEnthsiast.com

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