Rwanda

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Rwanda

General Information
Geography
Government
Economy
Population
Health
Communications and media
Chronology


GENERAL INFORMATION

National name Republika y'u Rwanda/Republic of Rwanda Area 26,338 sq km/10,169 sq mi Capital Kigali Language Kinyarwanda, French (both official), Kiswahili Religion about 50% animist; about 40% Christian, mainly Roman Catholic; 9% Muslim Time difference GMT +2 Major holidays 1, 28 January, 1 May, 1, 5 July, 1, 15 August, 25 September, 26 October, 1 November, 1, 8, 24–25 December; variable: Carnival, Corpus Christi, Good Friday


GEOGRAPHY

Major towns/cities Butare, Ruhengeri, Gisenyi, Kibungo, Cyangugu Physical features high savannah and hills, with volcanic mountains in northwest; part of lake Kivu; highest peak Mount Karisimbi 4,507 m/14,792 ft; Kagera River (whose headwaters are the source of the Nile) Airports two international airports; four domestic airfields; total passengers carried: 9,000 (1994) Railways none Roads total road network: 12,000 km/7,456 mi, of which 8.3% paved (1999 est); passenger cars: 3.2 per 1,000 people (1999)


GOVERNMENT

Head of state Paul Kagame from 2000 Head of government Bernard Makuza from 2000 Political system authoritarian nationalist Political executive unlimited presidency Administrative divisions 12 prefectures Political parties National Revolutionary Development Movement (MRND), nationalist-socialist, Hutu-oriented; Social Democratic Party (PSD), left of centre; Christian Democratic Party (PDC), Christian, centrist; Republican Democratic Movement (MDR), Hutu nationalist; Liberal Party (PL), moderate centrist; Rwanda Patriotic Front (FPR), Tutsi-led but claims to be multi-ethnic Death penalty retains and used for ordinary crimes Armed forces 51,000; plus paramilitary forces of 2,000 (2006 est) Conscription military service is voluntary Defence spend (% GDP) 2.2 (2005 est) Education spend (% GDP) 2.8 (2001 est) Health spend (% GDP) 1.6 (2004)


ECONOMY

Currency Rwandan franc GDP (US$) 2.1 billion (2005 est) Real GDP growth (% change on previous year) 3 (2006 est) GNI (US$) 2.1 billion (2005 est) GNI per capita (PPP) (US$) 1,320 (2005 est) Consumer price inflation 5.5% (2006 est) Labour force 87.6% agriculture, 4.4% industry, 8% services (2003) Foreign debt (US$) 1.6 billion (2004 est) Major trading partners Indonesia, Kenya, Germany, Belgium, Uganda, China Resources cassiterite (a tin-bearing ore), wolframite (a tungsten-bearing ore), natural gas, gold, columbo-tantalite, beryl Industries food processing, beverages, tobacco, mining, chemicals, rubber and plastic products, metals and metal products, machinery Exports coffee, tea, tin ores and concentrates, pyrethrum, coltan, hides. Principal market: Indonesia 63.9% (2005) Imports food, clothing, mineral fuels and lubricants, construction materials, transport equipment, machinery, tools, consumer goods. Principal source: Kenya 24.6% (2005) Arable land 45.6% (2006 est) Agricultural products sweet potatoes, cassava, dry beans, sorghum, plantains, coffee, tea, pyrethrum; livestock rearing (long-horned Ankole cattle and goats)


POPULATION

Population 9,230,300 (2006 est) Population growth rate 2.3% (2005–10) Population density (per sq km) 350 (2006 est) Urban population (% of total) 22 (2005 est) Age distribution (% of total population) 0–14 43%, 15–59 53%, 60+ 4% (2005 est) Ethnic groups 85% belong to the Hutu tribe, most of the remainder being Tutsis (14%); there are also Twa (1%) and Pygmy minorities Life expectancy 43 (men); 46 (women) (2005–10) Child mortality rate (under 5, per 1,000 live births) 203 (2004) Education (compulsory years) 6 Literacy rate 75% (men); 63% (women) (2004 est)


HEALTH

Physicians (per 10,000 people) 0.2 (2004 est) Hospital beds (per 1,000 people) 1.7 (2002 est) HIV infection (% of population aged 15–49) 3.1 (2005 est) AIDS deaths 21,000 (2005 est) Access to drinking-water source (% of total population) 92 (urban); 69 (rural) (2002)


COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

Landline telephones (per 100 people) 0.3 (2005 est) Mobile phone subscribers (per 100 people) 3.2 (2005 est) Radios (per 1,000 people) 102 (1997) TV sets (per 1,000 people) 8 (2004 est) Internet users (per 100 people) 0.5 (2005 est)


CHRONOLOGY

10th century onwards Hutu peoples settled in region formerly inhabited by hunter-gatherer Twa Pygmies, becoming peasant farmers. 14th century onwards Majority Hutu community came under dominance of cattle-owning Tutsi peoples, immigrants from the east, who became a semi-aristocracy and established control through land and cattle contracts. 15th century Ruganzu Bwimba, a Tutsi leader, founded kingdom near Kigali. 17th century Central Rwanda and outlying Hutu communities subdued by Tutsi mwami (king) Ruganzu Ndori. late 19th century Under the great Tutsi king, Kigeri Rwabugiri, a unified state with a centralized military structure was established. 1890 Known as Ruandi, the Tutsi kingdom, along with neighbouring Burundi, came under nominal German control, as Ruanda-Urundi. 1916 Occupied by Belgium during World War I. 1923 Belgium granted League of Nations mandate to administer Ruanda-Urundi ‘indirectly’ through Tutsi chiefs. 1959 Inter-ethnic warfare between Hutus and Tutsis, forcing mwami Kigeri V into exile. 1961 Republic proclaimed after mwami deposed. 1962 Independence from Belgium achieved as Rwanda, with Hutu Grégoire Kayibanda as president; many Tutsis left country. 1963 20,000 killed in inter-ethnic clashes, after Tutsis exiled in Burundi had launched raid. 1973 Kayibanda ousted in military coup led by Hutu Maj-Gen Juvenal Habyarimana; this was caused by resentment of Tutsis, who held some key government posts. 1975–91 One-party rule under Hutu-dominated National Revolutionary Development Movement (MRND). 1988 Influx of Hutu refugees from massacres in Burundi. 1990 Invasion by Rwanda Patriotic Front (FPR), a Tutsi military-political organization based in Uganda. 1993 Peace negotiated under Arusha Accord. 1994 Death of President Habyarimana and Burundian Hutu president Ntaryamira in air crash unleashed genocide, mainly by Hutu extremists against Tutsis; up to 1 million people killed; over 2 million fled country; civil war restarted and FPR took control; interim coalition government installed. 1996–2002 Rwandan military intervention in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR) to support Congolese rebels and counter interahamwe (Hutu death squads) based in refugee camps on border; Rwandan troop withdrawal following peace deal with DCR. 2000 FPR leader Paul Kagame elected president by parliament. 2003 Kagame returned as president in popular vote; FPR won first democratic parliamentary elections since 1994 genocide. 2006 Relations with France soured over French judge's claim that Kagame ordered assassination of President Habyarimana in 1994.


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