Rwanda

Rwanda is a small, land-locked country just south of the equator in the Great Lakes region of central Africa. It is bordered by Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west. Known as the “Land of a Thousand Hills,” Rwanda is about the size of Maryland (approximately 10,200 square miles) and has a current population of 10.7 million, growing at an annual rate of 3 percent. Rwanda's population density is among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 90 percent of Rwandans earn their living through agriculture, and approximately 60 percent live below the poverty line. Average life expectancy for men is 55 years and 58 years for women. The human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) adult prevalence rate is 3 percent. Rwanda has three official languages: Kinyarwanda, English, and French.

Rwanda became a German colony in 1898. After World War I, Belgium administered Rwanda as a United Nations Trust Territory. In 1935, Belgian colonialists instituted a system of national identification cards: Rwandans with 10 or more cows were registered as Tutsi (approximately 14 percent), and those with less as Hutu (approximately 85 percent). A third group, the Twa, made up about 1 percent of the population. Although these three groups spoke the same Bantu language and frequently intermarried, Tutsi were known as cattle herders, Hutu as cultivators, and Twa as hunter-gatherers and craftsmen. On July 1, 1962, Rwanda was granted formal independence. The first president, Gregoire Kayibanda, was a Hutu. Juvenal Habyarimana, also a Hutu, took control in a bloodless coup on July 5, 1973. In late 1959, muyaga (“wind of destruction”) swept through Rwanda, and [Page 1264]tens of thousands of Tutsi were killed. Many Tutsi fled to neighboring countries. On October 1, 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), predominately Tutsi who had escaped in 1959, invaded from Uganda, igniting a civil war. On 4 August 1993, the Arusha Peace Agreement was signed. On April 6, 1994, the presidential jet was shot down as it approached the Kigali airport. All of the passengers were killed, including President Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira.

Women in Rwanda harvest geranium plants, hoping to sell the distilled oil to the international perfume industry. More than 90 percent of Rwandans earn their living through agriculture, with 60 percent living below the poverty line.

Within hours of the crash, roadblocks had been established throughout the streets of the capital city Kigali, policed by soldiers and interahamwe (Hutu militias), with instructions to kill anyone who “looked” Tutsi. At the same time, the Presidential Guard and interahamwe traveled from house to house, killing Hutu opposition members and individuals whose names appeared on their target lists. The genocide quickly spread beyond the capital, arriving at various regions at different times, ultimately engulfing the entire country. Over the course of a mere 100 days, an estimated 800,000 Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu were killed. The vast majority of the violence was committed with crude instruments, such as machetes and clubs, by ordinary Rwandan men and women.

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