Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda (Kinyarwanda: Repubulika y'u Rwanda, Swahili: Jamhuri ya Rwanda, French: République du Rwanda), is a highland country in East Africa, neighbored by Uganda in the North, Burundi in the South, Tanzania in the East, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the West. It also borders Lake Kivu, one of the African Great Lakes, to its west. Like Burundi, the country's territory is tiny compared to its neighbors, but it hosts an impressive number of people for its size; 12.3 million people in 26,338 square kilometer of area (470 people per square kilometer). For comparison, the DR Congo is seven times more populous, but is 89 times larger. That makes it the continent's second most densely-populated country, after Mauritius.
The country is probably best known in the world for its extremely bloody civil war
in the early 1990s, or rather, the genocide that happened during it. The civil war claimed around 7,500 lives, but the genocide had casualties more than a hundred times that; it's estimated that up to 1 million lives perished during the event.
So why did they happen? The conflict can be traced to historical hostilities between the country's two major ethnicities, Hutus and Tutsis. Although "ethnicity" is not quite the right word; the distinction is very slippery, but the difference might be a bit closer to "Caste" or a distinction between "Common" and "Noble"—even before colonization. The two have lived in the same society and have spoken the same language since the dawn of an Imperial Tutsi Dynasty that once expanded over the region, forcing the conquered peoples into a subservient caste. The empire lasted for centuries even after Europeans came in and even left, the Tutsis were historically a dominant minority, ruling over the whole population and typically getting the best jobs (although this isn't to say that there weren't plenty of impoverished Tutsis and rich Hutus).
The original kingdom fell under colonisation of the Germans (one of the leftovers they had to accept because most of the continent was taken by the other powers when the German Empire was formed) until World War I, when Belgium invaded and took control of the zone. Both of them ruled the country by proxy, leaving in place the old Rwandan monarchy and Tutsi aristocracy. Both group of colonisers decided to encourage the split between Hutus and Tutsis, and even in some cases actively fanned the hostilities between the two, believing that dividing the population against itself was an effective way to keep them under control. Even after the kingdom split into Rwanda and Burundi, the situation kept the same, except for the escalating violence from the Hutu. Things changed in 1959, when the Hutu revolted; in 1961, they deposed the King and installed a republic with a Hutu president. Still, the Tutsis retained many positions of power and influence until 1973, when Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu, took power in a coup and they turned the tables, leading the violence and discrimination against the Tutsi.
Things got even worse when some rebel Tutsis formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), starting a civil war that fell into a stalemate, forcing the president to sign some accords. Unfortunately, worse came to worst and Habyarimana's plane was shot down, killing both him and Burundi's president, Cyprien Ntaryamira (also a Hutu). Soon after that (a few hours, as a matter of fact) started a murderous frenzy of Hutus, killing any Tutsis or moderate Hutus they found during a period of about 100 days while the Western powers just stood there without doing anything (the recent failure of the pacification mission in Somalia dissuaded them of going to another African country). In fact, the genocide seemed so well planned and organized because it was actually planned way before by the government and the military, and it is suspected by some that Habyarimana's death was deliberate to give them an excuse to start it.
The genocide ended when the RPF managed to take control of the country and, while they did engaged in revenge against the Hutus, today things are more peaceful. This peace, so to speak, was achieved mainly by exporting the problem: both Tutsis and Hutus exiled themselves in neighboring Zaire (today's DR Congo) and started fighting there, a leading cause of The Congo Wars.
Politically, the country is an authoritarian state, with the current President Paul Kagame having been ruling since 2000 after winning three consecutive elections, the third of which was made possible when, two years earlier, the parliament modified the constitution so the president can run for three terms (totally not a coincidence).
Between the Hutus and Tutsis there lies a third ethnic group. The Twas are a pygmy people, remnants of the region's earliest settlers before the Bantu migration of the 1st millennium BCE. Due to racism, they have been historically stomped upon by both Tutsis and Hutus; not only they fell victim of collateral damage during the genocide, but also they've been marginalized by the government.
Rwanda in the media:
- Hotel Rwanda. It tells the story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who protected as many Tutsis and moderate Hutus in his hotel as he could from the genocide.
- Kinyarwanda (named after the native language of the country, talked by the three ethnic groups) is another film about the genocide, though this one focuses more on individual stories.
- Sometimes in April chronicles the lives of two Hutu brothers during the genocide.
- Shake Hands with the Devil, a book of Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire about the failure of the UN to stop the genocide.
- Gorillas in the Mist tells the story of naturalist Dian Fossey in Rwanda while working with gorillas.
- Top Gear briefly passed through Rwanda on their trip to find the source of the Nile River. Jeremy Clarkson also mentions the horrific genocide from decades earlier.
- In the Parks and Recreation episode "Filibuster", Tom has to deal with his girlfriend from Doctors Without Borders going to Rwanda. He mistakenly thinks this is a "vacation" and complains that "if I know anything about Rwanda, and I don't, I bet it's full of rich guys who will buy her whatever she wants."
- Don Rosa's Disney comic "The Crocodile Collector" has Donald Duck and his nephews finding the source of the Nile in Rwanda
- Belgian singer Stromae is half-Rwandan, which sometimes appears in his work.
- "bâtard", which is about Black-and-White Morality, has a line which translates as "Are you Hutu or Tutsi?"
- Indirectly in "Papaoutai", as the song deals with issues caused by his Disappeared Dad, who was very absent during his whole life, then his death during the Rwandan genocide completely prevent them to mend their relation in the future.
- American metalcore band Fit for a King have stated that their song "Stacking Bodies" is about the genocide.
Relevant works from Rwanda include:
The Rwandan flag
The Rwandan national anthem
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Government
- Unitary dominant-party presidential constitutional republic
- President: Paul Kagame
- Prime Minister: Édouard Ngirente
Miscellaneous
- Capital and largest city: Kigali
- Population: 12,374,397
- Area: 26,338 km² (10,169 sq mi) (144th)
- Currency: Rwandan franc (FRw) (RWF)
- ISO-3166-1 Code: RW
- Country calling code: 250
- Highest point: Mount Karisimbi (4507 m/14,787 ft) (33rd)
- Lowest point: Ruzizi River (950 m/3,117 ft) (78th)
