Rwanda: Politics, Economics, Ethnicities

With a land area slightly smaller than Maryland, Rwanda is a small country in Central Africa. It is a landlocked country bordered by Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda with savanna grassland covering most of its surface. The capital is Kigali. With a population of over 8 million, Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa. Ethnicities represented are Hutu (making up 84% of the population), Tutsi (15%), and Twa (1%). Languages spoken in Rwanda include Kinyarwanda, French, English and Kiswahili.

Rwanda has a republic government with a president, currently Paul Kagame. Since its independence from Belgium on July 1, 1960, Rwanda has been in the grip of a civil war between its two major ethnic groups the Hutus and the Tutsis. Prior to its independence, the country's largest ethnic group: the Hutus overthrew the Tutsi king killed thousands of Tutsis and drove many more into exile. In 1990 the children of these Tutsi exiles formed a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front and began a civil war in 1990. The result has been the genocide of many Tutsis and moderate Hutus between the months of April and July 1994. Rwanda's first local elections occurred in March 1999 and its first post-genocide presidential and legislative elections occurred in August and September 2003. Its legal system is based on German and Belgian civil law systems and customary law from its Belgium colonial rule throughout its history.

Economically, Rwanda is a poor rural country with 90% of its population engaged in agriculture. It has few natural resources and minimal industry. Despite its fertile ecosystem, food production does not always keep up with the growing population, resulting in required food imports. Poor transportation linkages between neighboring countries decreases export growth. The 1994 genocide devastated the country resulting in higher poverty levels. Rwanda continues to receive aid money and received IMF-World Bank Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative debt relief in 2005.

Import partners include Kenya, Germany, Belgium, Uganda and France. Export partners include Indonesia, China and Germany. In 2004, the estimated foreign debt was $1.4 billion. Its military branches are the Rwandan Defense Forces: Army and Air Force. One must be 16 years of age to join and the number of males fit for military service (age 16-49) in 2005 was 1,100,000. The portion of Rwanda's GDP that goes towards its military was 3.2% in 2004.

Ethnic tensions in Rwanda provide the most tension diplomatically. Tutsi, Hutu, Hema, Lendu, and other conflicting ethnic groups continue fighting in the Great Lakes region-within boundaries of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda to gain control over populated areas and natural resources. Another conflict Rwanda has with other countries is the amount of refugees/exiles in other countries that wish to overthrow its government. This ethnic reconciliation is complicated by the real and perceived Tutsi political dominance. The capital, Kigali, has an increasing centralization and intolerance of dissent. The danger of Hutu extremist insurgency is only across the country's borders. Rwanda was also involved in two wars in recent years in Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Rwanda and countries in which exiles reside pledge to end the conflicts but localized violence occurs despite UN peacekeeping efforts. Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda established a border verification mechanism in 2005 to address accusations of Rwandan military supporting Congolese rebels and the Congo providing rebel Rwandan "Interhamwe" forces the means and bases to attack Rwandan forces.

Common goals of ethnic peace abound in Rwanda and its bordering countries. They represent alliances because of this goal but insurgent groups within their boundaries are enemies to Rwanda. Militia forces of these insurgents present a problem as so little of Rwanda's GDP is spent on its armed forces. Economically, Rwanda could benefit from sharing the cost of a better infrastructure transportation system with its neighboring countries. Exports could be shipped more efficiently but there is always the problem of insurgents at the borders taking over the goods. Other countries are not as densely populated as Rwanda, and might be able to provide crop employment to its citizens because of the similar savanna grassland climates. If the other countries agreed to this, and if insurgents did not attack these people, this seems a highly favorable answer to Rwanda's devastated economy.

Currently there are over 40,000 refugees and internally displaced persons of Rwanda living in neighboring countries. If there was a way to reunite these displaced people with their families and living conditions before the genocides, this would solve a lot of problems. Many believe that you can steal a man's money and woman and children, but once you take his land, he will fight you forever. If some of these exiles living in other countries were allowed a small portion of land, provided militia protection by Rwanda forces, then maybe they could start to forgive what happened to their people in the 1990s.

*Wikipedia: Rwanda. http://academickids.com/encyclopedia/r/rw/rwanda.html*

*World Factbook: Rwanda. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rw.html*