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About Rwanda
Location
Rwanda is in East/Central Africa, east of Democratic Republic
of the Congo with Uganda to its north and Burundi to the south.
Rwanda also shares its eastern border with Tanzania.
Land Boundaries
Burundi 290 km, Democratic Republic of the Congo 217 km, Tanzania
217 km, and Uganda 169 km.
Geography
Size 26,338 sq km slightly smaller than Maryland, US. Rwanda
has a temperate climate with two rainy seasons from February
to April and November to January. The temperature is mild
in mountains with frost and snow possible at higher altitudes.
Rwanda's terrain consists of mostly grassy uplands and hills
with a mountainous altitude declining from west to east. Its
lowest point is the Rusizi River at 950 m and its highest
point is Volcan Karisimbi which stands at 4,519 m. Rwanda
is a land locked country and most of its population is rural.
Population
About 11 million people live in Rwanda making it the most
densely populated country in Africa. Life expectancy is around
57 years. Birth rate is on average 5.37 per woman. Literacy
rate is about 70%.
Languages
Kinyarwanda (official) which is a universal Bantu vernacular;
French (official); English (official), and Kiswahili (Swahili)
which is used in commercial centers.
 Ethnic
Groups
Hutu (Bantu) 84%, Tutsi (Hamitic) 15%, and Twa (Pygmy) 1%
Religion
Roman Catholic 56.5%, Protestant 26%, Adventist 11.1%, Muslim
4.6%, indigenous beliefs 0.1%, and none 1.7% (2001)
Brief Political History
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 Zaire.
Since then, most of the refugees have returned
to Rwanda, but several thousand remained in the neighboring
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC; the former Zaire) and
formed an extremist insurgency bent on retaking Rwanda, much
as the RPF tried in 1990. Rwanda held its first local elections
in 1999 and its first post-genocide presidential and legislative
elections in 2003. Rwanda in 2009 staged a joint military
operation with the Congolese Army in DRC to rout out the Hutu
extremist insurgency there and Kigali and Kinshasa restored
diplomatic relations. Rwanda also joined the Commonwealth
in late 2009.
Economic Overview
Rwanda is a poor rural country with about 90% of the population
engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture and some mineral
and agro-processing. In 2008, minerals overtook coffee and
tea as Rwanda's primary foreign exchange earner. The 1994
genocide decimated Rwanda's fragile economic base, severely
impoverished the population, particularly women, and temporarily
stalled the country's ability to attract private and external
investment. However, Rwanda has made substantial progress
in stabilizing and rehabilitating its economy to pre-1994
levels. GDP has rebounded and inflation has been curbed. Nonetheless,
a majority still live below the poverty line of 250 Rwandan
francs per day (about US$0.43). Despite Rwanda's fertile ecosystem,
food production often does not keep pace with demand, requiring
food imports. Rwanda continues to receive substantial aid
money and obtained IMF-World Bank Heavily Indebted Poor Country
(HIPC) initiative debt relief in 2005-06. Rwanda also received
a Millennium Challenge Account Compact in 2008.
Africa's most densely populated country is trying
to overcome the limitations of its small, landlocked economy
by leveraging regional trade. Rwanda joined the East African
Community and is aligning its budget, trade, and immigration
policies with its regional partners. The government has embraced
an expansionary fiscal policy to reduce poverty by improving
education, infrastructure, and foreign and domestic investment
and pursuing market-oriented reforms, although energy shortages,
instability in neighboring states, and lack of adequate transportation
linkages to other countries continue to handicap growth. The
global downturn hurt export demand and tourism while poor
rains this year have lowered growth in agriculture.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rw.html
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