Rwanda
Type of Government: Republic
Independence: 1962 from Belgium
Head of State: President Paul Kagame (since April 22, 2000)
2007/2008 UN Development Index ranking (out of 177 countries): 161
2007 TI Corruption Perception Index (out of 179): 111
Political Development: 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. 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. The government’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.
Adult HIV Rate: 5.1%
Life Expectancy: 48.99
GDP: $1.968 billion
Inflation: 8.8%
Poverty: 60%
Petroleum: N/A
Leading Export Partner: China (10.3%)
Economic Note: Rwanda is a poor rural country with about 90% of the population engaged in subsistence agriculture. It is the most densely populated country in Africa and is landlocked with few natural resources and minimal industry. Primary foreign exchange earners are coffee and tea.
