Research Library: Rwanda
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Last Updated Oct 28, 2009
Country Information
Government
- Rwanda is a republic. The executive branch is composed of a President (chief of state) and a Prime Minister (head of government). The President is elected by popular vote to serve a seven-year term and is eligible for re-election. The President appoints the Prime Minister. The bicameral legislative branch is composed of the Senate (26 seats serving an eight-year term) and the Chamber of Deputies (80 seats serving a five-year term). The next executive elections will be in September 2010. The next elections for the Senate will be in September 2011 and for the Chamber in September 2013.
- The current President is Paul Kagame, who was elected in August 2003 and the Prime Minister is Bernard Makuza. The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) won 78.8% of the vote in the last election, winning 42 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Members in the Senate were appoints as part of the transitional government
Political Stability
- In 1959, the Hutu majority overthrew the Tutsi (minority) King. Over the next several years, thousands of Tutsi were killed and 150,000 fled the country. Descendents of the exiled Tutsi formed the RPF. In 1962, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution granting Rwanda independence from Belgium. Corruption was rampant and in 1973, the military overtook the government. Maj. Gen. Habyarimana ruled the country for several decades. He promised to transition Rwanda from a one-party system to a multi-party system in July 1990. Exiled RPF members invaded the country, starting a civil war, in October of 1990. They criticized the government for its failure to democratize Rwanda. A cease-fire was reached in July of1992.
- On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying the Rwanda and Burundi president was shot down. This sparked a two-month genocide in which an estimated 1 million people, primarily Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were killed, 2 million became refugees and a million people were internally displaced. The Hutu regime fell in July 1994. Gacaca, grassroots village-level justice systems, were created to address crimes committed during the genocide. In 2003, Rwanda held its first post-genocide presidential elections. Ethnic reconciliation is still a complicated issue to this day despite the revision of the constitution which eliminated any reference to ethnicity. The Rwandan government considers the country to be stable.
Current Government Policies
- The Rwanda government is focused on increasing centralization and controlling the insurgency (Hutu extremists) currently located in neighboring Congo. The government is making effort to democratize the government and the judicial courts. There is a continuing effort to try genocide suspects both through the national court system and local Gacacas.
International Reputation
- Rwanda plays an important role in international peace keeping. It currently has forces stationed in Darfur and Southern Sudan. In 1998, Uganda and Rwanda invaded neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo in an attempt to overthrow President Kabila. In October 2002, they withdrew only to invade once again in December 2008 with the help of the Congolese government to stop the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the source of instability in the region. Rwanda broke of relations with France after France accused several high-level Rwandan official of being involved in the shooting down of the presidential plane that sparked the genocide.
Economics
- Rwanda is a landlocked country with few natural resources. 90% of the population is in involved in subsistence agriculture. The 1994 genocide worsened an already fragile economy. Few wished to invest in the unstable country and many citizens were improvised.
- In recent years, GDP has grown and inflation has leveled. From 2005-2006, Rwanda received assisted from the World Bank and IMF under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative debt relief. The government is attempting to lower poverty levels by improving education and infrastructure while attracting foreign and domestic investment. Poor transportation systems and instability in the region continue to be an obstacle.
Foreign Aid
Statistics
Click on statistic name for source information.
Web Resources
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