BASIC FACTS ABOUT RWANDA
Population: 8 million
Capital: Kigali
Head of State: President Paul Kagame
Altitude: Ranges from 3,300 feet to 14,850 feet above sea level
Major Languages: Kinyarwanda, French, English, Swahili
Major Religions: Christianity, Indigenous Religions
Life Expectancy: 45 years (men), 48 years (women)
Currency: Rwandan franc
Main Exports: Coffee, tea, hides, tin ore
Highest Point: Karisimbi Volcano (14,873 feet)
Main National Parks/Animal Reserves: Akagera and Virunga Volcanoes National Parks
Best Time to Visit: Anytime but mid-March to mid-May when long rains set in
Women in Parliament: women comprise 56% of the parliament, which means it now leads the world in terms of women in government
HISTORY
Rwanda is a beautiful country in central Africa that is known as “the land of a thousand hills.” Aside from many mountains and valleys, the country also has five volcanoes, 23 lakes and numerous rivers with Lake Kivu being a strikingly picturesque inland sea. The country is also home to literally hundreds of species of birds and is quite famous for its mountain gorillas. This is a place where wild animals are protected from hunters and where they roam free in vast national parks. Rwanda is bordered by Uganda to the north, The Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Burundi to the south and by Tanzania to the east.
Culturally, music and dance play a very important role in Rwandan life with dance acts ranging from those commemorating bravery to those that are quite humorous. Traditional songs are often accompanied by a harp-like instrument called a “lulunga” while ones about celebration are frequently backed by a drum orchestra. There is also more modern devotional singing which can be quite upbeat and which is typically part of most church services throughout the country.
In addition, the people of rural Rwanda are also known for producing numerous handicrafts such as ceramics, basketry and wood carvings whereas some of the cities, like the capital Kigali, afford the opportunity for individuals to see more modern art work.
The earliest known inhabitants of Rwanda were pygmoid hunter-gatherers, ancestors of the modern Twa people who today comprise only about one percent of the country’s population. Around 2000 years ago, a migrant population from the west settled in the area and it came to be characterized by two different occupational groups. These were a cattle-owning nobility and a more agricultural lower class majority which came to be known as the Tutsi and Hutu of today, respectively.
An important point is that while they are often regarded as two different ethnic groups due to some differences in physical features, the Tutsi and Hutu share the same language and cultural characteristics and have a history of intermarriage.
Until the arrival of the Europeans, there existed a kingdom in Rwanda with a relative amount of stability. Whatever differences there were between groups of individuals was seen more as relating to a difference between social classes than as relating to a difference involving ethnicity but that changed once colonialism arrived on the scene. Germany first claimed the area in 1894 but lost it after losing the first World War at which point the area became a United Nations “Trust Territory” that was administered , through indirect rule, by Belgium.
The Belgians stressed their view of the Tutsi and Hutu as representing different ethnic groups and, in 1933, began requiring that all individuals carry identification cards which classified them as belonging to a certain ethnic group.
In addition, people were categorized according to how many cattle they owned and anyone owning ten or more was seen as belonging to the aristocratic class, a position usually occupied by the Tutsi. There was even a different educational system for different ethnic groups. Such a situation caused resentment to simmer and really focused on the differences between people rather than their commonality.
It was from the aristocratic class that the ruling elite was drawn who administered affairs for the Belgians. Thus, it was essentially Tutsi who were in charge as opposed to the Hutu. However, this began to change when the ruling elite started making demands for the country to gain its independence from Belgium. In response to these demands, the Belgians assisted the formation of a political party mainly comprised of Hutu who they felt would be more accepting of and less likely to question their colonial power.
Under Belgian supervision, this new party then began a massacre of Tutsi in the late 1950’s leading to many Tutsi fleeing the country in “the Diaspora” and ending up as refugees in nearby nations such as Uganda. Such treatment of the Tutsi was to continue for years even after Belgium eventually granted Rwanda full independence in 1962.
The Tutsi who fled in the 1950’s went on to encounter difficulties of the same type, unfortunately, in other parts of their region in Africa. In fact, it was tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi of Uganda and another neighboring country, Burundi, which was one of the factors that fueled the ongoing conflict between the two groups in Rwanda. One result of this, among others, was the formation of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RFP), a rebel force comprised of Tutsi living in Uganda.
In October of 1990, the RFP invaded Rwanda in an attempt to overthrow the Hutu-run government which brought about several years of intense fighting along with multiple ceasefires which were never quite effective.
Then, on April 6, 1994, the Hutu presidents of both Rwanda and Burundi were killed when their plane was shot down and, although the individual or group responsible was never completely determined, this was enough to set off a horrific series of events over the next three months known as the Rwandan Genocide. It was determined that the events of those three months were planned well in advance of the plane crash and did not take place only as a reaction to that event.
During the genocide in Rwanda, from April to July 1994, the Hutu-led military and a 30,000 member militia group began killing Tutsi opposition leaders but, before long, individuals such as soldiers and police officers were killing anyone who happened to be Tutsi as well as their moderate Hutu sympathizers.
By the time the attacks were over, average Hutu citizens had joined in, too, by killing their own neighbors. In fact, in only 100 days, 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates had been murdered. Also disturbing was the fact that UN member states did not respond to the requests of a UN peacekeeping force that was in the area at the time and that asked for assistance.
The RFP ended up finally gaining control of the country. The result of the three months of the Genocide was, however, a major destabilization of the region with refugees having poured out of Rwanda into, for the most part, economically disadvantaged neighboring nations which were often not really able to effectively take them in. Circumstances in many of the camps set up to accept refugees, or internally displaced persons, were not good at all.
Since the time of the genocide, Rwanda has been struggling to rebuild in every sense of the word. When the RFP took control of the country in 1994, its leader, Paul Kagame, actually installed a Hutu president named Pasteur Bizimungu. Kagame served as vice president, though, and many felt that it was really he who had the power in the situation. In fact, when Bizimunga became somewhat critical of Kagame in 2000, Kagame took over the presidency himself.
When he was, then, “elected” president in 2003, it was not surprising that there were many who questioned how free and fair the election had been especially in light of the fact that opposition parties had been banned until just prior to the start of the voting. The next presidential election is scheduled for the year 2010.
Progress appears to have been made on other fronts, however. In 1998, a UN tribunal sentenced Jean Kambanda, former prime minister of Rwanda, to life in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide which made him the first person in history to have been convicted of this particular crime. By 2001, the number of those similarly convicted had risen to eight. Then, in 2003, an important event occurred when 93% of Rwandans voted to approve a new constitution which outlawed “the incitement of ethnic hatred.”
This new constitution also instituted a requirement concerning the balance of political power between Hutu and Tutsi in the sense that, for example, no party can hold more than half the seats in parliament. Considering the complex history regarding these two groups in Rwanda, it would seem vitally important to work on striking a good balance in political situations whenever possible.
References
British Broadcasting Corporation News. (2008, June 25). Country profile: Rwanda. Retrieved October 21, 2008 from http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles
Human Rights Watch. (2004, April, 1). Leave none to tell the story: genocide in Rwanda – ten years later. Retrieved October 21, 2008 from http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda
Mamdani, M. (2001). When victims become killers. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Official Website of the Republic of Rwanda. (2008, October 26).
History of a people. Retrieved October 26, 2008 from http://www.gov.rw/
Public Broadcasting Service. (2004, April, 1). Frontline: “ghosts of Rwanda”. Retrieved October 19, 2008 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/viewers
Rwanda. (2008, October 26). Culture. Retrieved October 26, 2008 from http://www.rwandatourism.com/culture.htm
