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$Unique_ID{COW03055}
$Pretitle{284}
$Title{Rwanda
Rwanda a Profile}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{United States Department of State Bureau of Public Affairs}
$Affiliation{United States Government}
$Subject{rwanda
government
development
national
population
economic
million
states
president
burundi}
$Date{1989}
$Log{Tea Factory*0305501.scf
Potato and Wheat Fields*0305502.scf
Produce*0305503.scf
Table 1.*0305501.tab
}
Country: Rwanda
Book: Rwanda A Profile
Author: United States Department of State Bureau of Public Affairs
Affiliation: United States Government
Date: 1989
Rwanda a Profile
[See Tea Factory: Courtesy Embassy of Rwanda, Washington DC.]
[See Potato and Wheat Fields: Courtesy Embassy of Rwanda, Washington DC.]
[See Produce: Courtesy Embassy of Rwanda, Washington DC.]
Geography
Area: 26,338 sq. km. (10,169 sq. mi.); about the size of Maryland.
Cities: Capital-Kigali (pop. 300,000 est.). Other cities-Gitarama, Butare,
Ruhengeri, Gisenyi. Terrain: Grassy uplands and hills. Climate: Mild and
temperate, with two rainy seasons.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective-Rwandan(s). Population (1988): 6.8
million. Annual growth rate: 3.7%. Ethnic groups: Hutu 85%, Tutsi 14%, Twa 1%.
Religions: Christian 74%, traditional African 25%, Muslim 1%. Languages:
French, Kinyarwanda. Education: Years compulsory-8. Attendance-70%.
Literacy-50%. Health: Infant mortality rate-122/1,000. Life expectancy 48 yrs.
Work force (3.6 million): Agriculture-93%. Industry and commerce-2%. Services
and government-56%.
Government
Type: Republic. Independence: July 1, 1962. Constitution: December 17,
1978.
Branches: Executive-president (chief of state and head of government).
Legislative-National Development Council (CND). Judicial-Supreme Court of
Appeals.
Administrative subdivisions: 10 prefectures, 143 communes.
Political party: National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND).
Suffrage: Universal adult.
Central government budget (1987): Revenues-$247.8 million.
Expenditures-$280.2 million. Development expenditures-$48.3 million.
Defense (1987): 12.1% of budget.
Flag: Three vertical stripes-red, yellow, green-with a black "R"
centered on the yellow.
Economy
GDP (1986): $1.9 billion. Annual growth rate (1986): 4.2%. Per capita
income: $323. Avg. inflation rate (1987): 4.1%.
Natural resources: Cassiterite, wolfram.
Agriculture (44.8% of GNP): Products-coffee, tea, pyrethrum, cinchona.
Arable land-48%, 90% of which is cultivated.
Industry (15.8% of GNP): Types-beer production, soft drinks, soap,
furniture, shoes, plastic goods, textiles, cigarettes.
Trade (1987): Exports-$113.2 million: coffee, tea, hides and skins,
pyrethrum. Major markets-FRG, Belgium, Netherlands, UK, US. Imports-$354.2
million: petroleum products, consumer goods. Major suppliers-Belgium, Kenya,
Japan, France.
Official exchange rate: Approx. 74 Rwandan francs = US$1 (fluctuates
daily).
Fiscal year: Calendar year.
Membership in International Organizations
UN, Organization of African Unity (OAU), Economic Commission for Africa
(ECA), Great Lakes States Economic Community (CEPGL), Organization for the
Management and the Development of the Kagera River Basin (KBO), Preferential
Trade Agreement for Eastern and Southern African States (PTA).
GEOGRAPHY
Rwanda consists mainly of grassy uplands and hills that extend southeast
from a chain of volcanoes in the northwest. It is divided by the Zaire and
Nile drainage systems and has many lakes. Lake Kivu and the Ruzzi River
Valley, which form the western boundary with Zaire, constitute part of the
western portion of the Great Rift Valley.
Although located only two degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda's high
elevation makes the climate temperate. The average daily temperature near
Lake Kivu, at an altitude of 1,463 meters (4,800 ft.) above sea level, is
23C (73F). Frost and snow sometimes occur in the mountains where the elevation
reaches 4,480 meters (14,700 ft.). During the major rainy seasons
(February-May and November-December), heavy downpours occur almost daily,
alternating with periods of sunny weather. Annual rainfall averages 80
centimeters (31 in.) but is generally heavier in the western and northwestern
mountains than in the eastern savannas.
PEOPLE
Rwanda's population density is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa (258 per
sq. km.-669 per sq. mi.). Nearly every family in this country without villages
lives in a self-contained compound. The few urban concentrations are grouped
around administrative centers.
The indigenous population consists of three ethnic groups. The Tutsis
(14%) are a pastoral people of Nilotic origin, who arrived in the area about
500 years ago. Until 1959, they formed the dominant caste under a feudal
system reminiscent of medieval England but based on cattle holding. The Hutus,
who comprise the majority of the population (85%), are farmers of Bantu
origin. The Twa pygmies (1%) are thought to be the remnants of the earliest
settlers of the region.
About half the adult population are literate, but not more than 2% have
received secondary education. Educational reforms are underway to revise the
elementary curriculum, make practical textbooks available in Kinyarwanda, and
provide pupils with basic agricultural and academic skills.
HISTORY
According to folklore, Tutsi cattle breeders began arriving in the area
from the Horn of Africa about 500 years ago and gradually subjugated the Hutu
inhabitants. The Tutsis established a monarchy headed by a mwami (king) and a
feudal caste of nobles. The Tutsis reduced the Hutus to serfdom through a
contract known as ubuhake, whereby the Hutu farmers obligated their services
to the Tutsi lords in return for cattle and the use of pastures and arable
land.
The first European to visit Rwanda was a German lieutenant, Count von
Goetzen, in 1894. His party was followed by missionaries, notably the "White
Fathers." In 1899, the court of mwami submitted to a German protectorate
without resistance. Belgian troops from Zaire occupied Rwanda in 1916; after
World War I, the League of Nations mandated Rwanda and its southern neighbor,
Burundi, to Belgium as the Territory of Ruanda-Urundi. Following World War
II, Ruanda-Urundi became a UN trust territory with Belgium as the
administering authority.
Reforms instituted by the Belgians in the 1950s encouraged the growth of
democratic political institutions but ultimately were resisted by Tutsi
traditionalists who saw in them a threat to Tutsi rule. An increasingly
restive Hutu population sparked revolt in November 1959, resulting in the
overthrow of the Tutsi monarchy. Two years later, the Party of the Hutu
Emancipation Movement (PARMEHUTU) won an overwhelming victory in a
UN-supervised referendum. During the 1959 revolt and its aftermath, more than
160,000 Tutsis fled to neighboring countries.
The PARMEHUTU government, formed as a result of the September 1961
election, was granted internal autonomy by Belgium on January 1, 1962. A June
1962 UN General Assembly resolution terminated the Belgian trusteeship and
granted full independence to Rwanda (and Burundi) effective July 1, 1962.
Gregoire Kayibanda, leader of the PARMEHUTU Party, became Rwanda's first
elected president, directing a government chosen from the membership of the
directly elected unicameral National Assembly. Peaceful negotiation of
international problems, social and economic elevation of the masses, and
integrated development of Rwanda were the ideals of the Kayibanda regime.
Relations with 43 countries, including the United States, were established in
the first 10 years.
Despite the progress made, inefficiency and corruption began festering
in government ministries in the mid-1960s. In 1968, disaffection in the
National Assembly with the government led not to reform but to the purging of
dissident elements from the