REPUBLIC OF RWANDA

• Official name: Republika y'u Rwanda / Republic of Rwanda
• Location: Central Africa
• International organisations: African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, African Union, Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, United Nations, World Trade Organisation
• Borders: Burundi, Congo (Democratic Republic), Tanzania, Uganda
• Coastline: None
• Land area: 26,338 Km2
• Population: 10,700,000
• Annual GDP (PPP) per capita: US$900 (2009 CIA estimate). World ranking: 184
• Ethnicity: The entire population is of African stock. The major ethnic groups are the Hutu (84%) and the Tutsi (15%).
• Languages: Kinyarwanda and English are the official languages. (The government abandoned French for English in 2008). French is still the language of business. Kiswahili is also widely used.
• Religion: Over 90% of the population are Christians (Catholic 56.5%, Protestant 37%). 4.5% are Sunni Moslems.
• Form of government: Presidential republic. Rwanda is divided into 12 prefectures.
• Capital: Kigali
• Constitution: The new Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda came into effect on 19 June 2003.
• Head of state: The President, elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term.
• Head of government: The Prime Minister, appointed by the President.
• Legislature: The Parliament of Rwanda is a bicameral legislature. The Chamber of Deputies has 80 members. Of these, 53 are elected for five-year terms by proportional representation, 24 are elected by provincial councils, two are appointed by the National Youth Council and one by the Federation of the Associations of the Disabled. The Senate has 26 members, serving eight-year terms. Of these, 12 are elected by provincial and sectoral councils, eight appointed by the President, four appointed by the Forum of Political Formations and two elected by the staff of the universities.
• Electoral authority: The National Election Commission administers national elections.
• Freedom House rating: Political Rights 6, Civil Liberties 5

Political history

The territory which now constitutes Rwanda and Burundi was annexed to German East Africa in 1890. In 1916 the territory was occupied by Belgians, and in 1922 the it was made the League of Nations Mandate of Ruanda-Urundi under Belgian administration. This became a United Nations Mandate in 1945. In the 1950s a nationalist movement developed, and internal self-government was granted in 1960. In 1962 the territory was divided into two independent republics, Rwanda and Burundi.

Before European occupation, Rwanda had been ruled by the Tutsi minority, who kept the Hutu majority in serfdom. The democratic constitution left by the Belgians gave political power to the Hutu, but the Tutsi did not accept this loss of their traditional authority. Ethnic violence periodically broke out, and in 1973 an army coup installed Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, in power, which he retained through the usual African one-party state system until 1991, when he agreed to the re-establishment of a multi-party system.

The resumption of political life, however, re-awakened conflict between the Hutu and the Tutsi minority, who had retained much of their economic power. When Habyarimana was assassinated in 1994, a Hutu party, the Rwanda Patriotic Front, seized power and a one-sided civil war broke out, in which up to 500,000 Tutsi were massacred by Hutu militia, supported by many politicians and Catholic clergy. This led to UN-approved intervention by French troops and thus to the 1993 Arusha peace accord. Following the establishment of a transitional government under UN supervision, Paul Kagame, a Tutsi, became interim president. Kagame was confirmed in office in rather one-sided but apparently reasonably fair presidential elections in August 2003. Kagame has since entrenched himself in power, helped by a weak legislature and party system. At the 2008 legislative election his Rwandan Patriotic Front won 78% of the vote and most of the seats. He will seek re-election in August 2010.

Freedom House's 2009 report on Rwanda says: "Rwanda is not an electoral democracy. International observers have noted that the 2003 presidential and 2003 and 2008 parliamentary elections, while administratively acceptable, presented Rwandans with only a limited degree of political choice... The constitution officially permits political parties to exist, but only under certain conditions, and the constitution's emphasis on "national unity" has the effect of limiting political pluralism... The government has undertaken a number of anticorruption measures, but graft represents a significant problem... Rwanda was ranked 102 out of 180 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index... The RPF has imposed a number of legal restrictions and informal controls on the media, and press freedom groups have accused the government of intimidating independent journalists... Although the constitution codifies freedoms of association and assembly, in reality these rights are limited... The judiciary has yet to secure full independence from the executive. Nevertheless, a 2008 report by Human Rights Watch noted some recent improvements in the judicial system."

Updated July 2010