Country Information

The population of Rwanda is approximately 8.6 million. Rwanda is comprised of Hutu 84%, Tutsi 15%, and Twa (pygmies) 1%. Rwanda is 94% Christian, with a Muslim minority of 5%, and 1% indigenous beliefs. The government is a multi-party republic. The official languages are Kinyarwanda, English, and French.

Political and Economic Environment
A planned genocide against Tutsis and moderate Hutus was launched by select members of the previous Rwandan government after a plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down on April 6, 1994. Rwanda suffered the scourge of the quickest, deadliest genocide in modern history in 1994. Almost 800,000 people were killed in three months, and more than two million Rwandans fled the country to seek refuge in neighboring Zaire (now Congo), Burundi, and Tanzania. Current President Paul Kagame came to power in July 1994 when his army, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), entered from exile in Uganda and ended the genocide. In 1996, most of these refugees were forcibly returned to Rwanda. Kagame was elected President in 2000 by a special parliamentary election.  In 2003, Rwanda adopted a new constitution, created to eliminate reference to ethnicity and set the stage for presidential and legislative elections. Kagame was re-elected to a 7-year term in 2003.

The Rwandan government faces the immense challenge of working through the legacy of the genocide. As many as 40,000 individuals have been kept in custody for crimes relating to the genocide and many more individuals are scheduled to be tried under a local justice system called gacaca. Trials of people suspected of involvement in the genocide continue, both within Rwanda and at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania. Rwandese courts concluded about 200 trials of genocide suspects in 2004. No executions were carried out.

Rwanda is a land-locked country with a mostly poor rural population. The Rwandan economy is largely based on the agricultural production done by 92% of work force, while 8% of Rwandans are engaged in industry and commerce, services and government. Land is scarce in Rwanda and the government is heavily dependent on foreign aid to assure the overall well-being of the population. The government’s military involvement in neighboring Congo has resulted in huge economic benefits to the state and to individuals through the extensive illegal exploitation of natural resources, especially in the eastern portion of the country.

Humanitarian Situation
The Rwandan government faces the challenge of integrating large numbers of returning refugees, including some who have been returned against their will by the governments of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Tanzania. The Ugandan authorities are targeting 1,000 Rwandan asylum seekers, many who are appealing their unsuccessful applications for refugee status. The Ugandan government has threatened that they either voluntarily repatriate or prepare for deportation. 60,000 refugees remain outside Rwanda. Most are unsure if they want to return and continue to fear being forcibly returned.

The UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo (MONUC) gave an ultimatum to the remnants of the military groups responsible for the Rwanda genocide to leave the country by the end of September 2005. An organized repatriation process has begun, though there is still intimidation of those seeking to return by leaders trying to keep their resistance intact. Women and children, including Congolese, associated with the rebel forces were sometimes forced to join them against their will; RI has argued that these dependents be given an independent choice as to whether they wish to settle in Rwanda or remain in the Congo. Inside the country, the World Bank is playing a key role in a multi-donor effort to disarm, demobilize and reintegrate former combatants.

Updated October 2005