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Rwanda NEWS MEDIA
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Background: In 1959, three years before independence from Belgium, the
majority ethnic group, the Hutus, overthrew the ruling Tutsi
king. Over the next several years, thousands of Tutsis were
killed, and some 150,000 driven into exile in neighboring
countries. The children of these exiles later formed a rebel
group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and began a civil
war in 1990. The war, along with several political and
economic upheavals, exacerbated ethnic tensions, culminating
in April 1994 in the genocide of roughly 800,000 Tutsis and
moderate Hutus. The Tutsi rebels defeated the Hutu regime and
ended the killing in July 1994, but approximately 2 million
Hutu refugees - many fearing Tutsi retribution - fled to
neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and the former Zaire.
Since then, most of the refugees have returned to Rwanda, but
several thousand remained in the neighboring Democratic
Republic of the Congo (the former Zaire) and formed an
extremist insurgency bent on retaking Rwanda, much as the RPF
tried in 1990. Despite substantial international assistance
and political reforms - including Rwanda's first local
elections in March 1999 and its first post-genocide
presidential and legislative elections in August and September
2003 - the country continues to struggle to boost investment
and agricultural output, and ethnic reconciliation is
complicated by the real and perceived Tutsi political
dominance. Kigali's increasing centralization and intolerance
of dissent, the nagging Hutu extremist insurgency across the
border, and Rwandan involvement in two wars in recent years in
the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to
hinder Rwanda's efforts to escape its bloody legacy.
Borders: Burundi 290 km, Democratic Republic of the Congo 217 km,
Tanzania 217 km, Uganda 169 km
Population: 9,037,690
GDP per capita: $237.48 per capita
Capital with population: Kigali - 851,024
Largest city with population: Kigali - 851,024
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