Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0048/00481.txt

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$Unique_ID{bob00481}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Rwanda
Chapter 3B.   Drainage}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{The Director Foreign Area Studies}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{lake
areas
kigali
health
miles
small
kivu
limited
national
percent
see
pictures
see
figures
}
$Date{1990}
$Log{See Anti-Erosion Ditches*0048101.scf
See Public Health Meeting*0048102.scf
}
Title:       Rwanda
Book:        Area Handbook for Rwanda
Author:      The Director Foreign Area Studies
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1990

Chapter 3B.   Drainage

[See Anti-Erosion Ditches: Courtesy Embassy of Rwanda, Washington DC.]

     The areas east of the main mountain range, sometimes called the Kagera
Basin, drain eventually into the Nile River system. The central uplands and
the eastern lakes and swamps are drained by the Nyabarongo River and its main
tributaries: the Lukarara, Mwogo, Biruruma, Mukungwa, Base, Nyabugogo, and
Akanyaru Rivers. The generalized direction of flow is eastward. Collected
runoff moves northward via the Kagera River, which forms much of the eastern
boundary, eventually flowing into Lake Victoria.

     In these central highlands, east of the Congo-Nile Crest, erosion is a
serious problem, although the average slopes are less steep than those of
the west. This is an area of small farms and grazing lands spread over
rounded hills between eroded gullies. The various plateaus descend eastward
in successive tiers, ending abruptly in central and eastern Rwanda in a series
of escarpments. Below, at approximately 3,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level,
is an irregular basin containing minor elongated valleys, lakes, and
swamplands. This basin, less densely populated than the plateaus that border
it on three sides, extends from the capital city of Kigali to Lake Rugwero on
the southeastern border. Similar swamps and relatively flat lands less
desirable for human habitation than the central highlands, extend over
hundreds of square miles in eastern and southeastern border areas.

     The Lake Kivu region west of the mountains is part of the large Congo
drainage basin. The western slopes of the Congo-Nile Divide form a narrow,
steep belt of rugged hills and ravines between the mountain crests and the
lake, sharply eroded by runoff waters moving swiftly into Lake Kivu or the
Ruzizi River Valley. Kivu, with a 4,700-foot altitude, drains southward into
Lake Tanganyika via the Ruzizi, a swift river that descends 2,300 feet in
less than 75 miles.

     The upper reaches of most rivers in the mountains of the Congo-Nile Ridge
tend to be steep. They become torrents during the rainy season and may be
completely dry at other times.

Vegetation and Soils

     Most of the surviving forests, probably covering less than 3 percent of
the nation's land, are at the top of the Congo-Nile Ridge, on the volcanic
mountains of the northwest, or on Wahu Island in Lake Kivu. Only small
vestiges of the ancient forests remain in other areas, although there are some
scattered savanna woodlands in the eastern provinces. The high-altitude
forests, now controlled by law, tend to be mixed forests in inaccessible
areas, and exploitation is difficult. Although used locally for both fuel and
construction, none of the forests are very important to the national economy.

     Shrubs and trees, such as eucalyptus, grow among the farms of the central
highlands. Many of these were planted during the past 20 years as part of an
erosion control program. Thus, although the original forests have long since
been removed from the heavily populated plateaus, the landscape is not
entirely treeless. Depending upon altitude, natural tree cover once included
a wide variety of temperate and tropical zone trees, shrubs and bushes, both
evergreen and deciduous.

     Most soils contain many of the metal compounds found in laterite soils,
but are generally lighter, more fertile, more workable, and less troublesome
to agriculturalists than the true laterites. In some areas, especially in the
northwest, soils are of volcanic origin and are quite fertile. Approximately
30 percent of the land is suitable for farming, and another 30 percent for
grazing (see ch. 9, Agriculture).

     Most of the farming and grazing areas were derived from the forests that
covered the area until they were removed by Hutu farmers during the last 500
years. Except where seriously eroded or leached by heavy farming, humus
content and fertility are good, comparing favorably with the soils of many
African areas. Soil quality and productivity are usually excellent in the
alluvial valleys and the volcanic soils in the northwestern provinces of
Gisenyi and Ruhengeri. Tillable soils throughout the country are heavily
cropped, producing a large variety of cereals, legumes, grasses, tubers,
shrubs, and trees.

     Intensive food crop production, often on steep slopes, has led to serious
soil erosion. Pastureland has been overgrazed in many areas. Erosion control
measures, such as the planting of hedges in appropriate areas to control
runoff, were established by the Belgians during the Trusteeship period.
Population pressure on the better lands is so intense that soil damage,
through leaching, erosion, and intensive farming without adequate fertilizing
continues to be a serious problem.

Conservation Areas and Wildlife

     Ruhengeri and Gisenyi Provinces in the northwest are areas of dramatic
scenery and rich lava soils, producing both food and commercial crops.
Karisimbi, the volcanic peak north of Lake Kivu, rises to 14,870 feet above
sea level, almost 2 miles above the average elevation of the Rwanda plateaus.
Although located within 100 miles of the Equator, the mountain is snowcapped.
Above 7,800 feet, a near-permanent mist prevails, fostering a specialized
forest that thrives on such conditions. Fast-growing tropical and
semitropical forests laced with old buffalo and elephant trails, cover the
slopes of the middle elevations. A game preserve and conservation region, the
Parc National des Volcans (National Park of the Volcanoes), has been
established here in order to preserve special plant and animal species,
including the few remaining gorillas. The preserve is adjacent to the border
and is contiguous to Albert National Park, maintained on the west side of this
border by Congo (Kinshasa).

     Southwest, and far below the rain forests, lies Lake Kivu, at
approximately 4,700 feet in altitude. The Gisenyi area on the northeastern
edge of the lake has been described in Government publications as one of the
most beautiful shorelines in the world, combining pleasant beaches, islands,
and luxuriant vegetation against a background of high mountains. It attracts
a small number of tourists in spite of its distance from main travel routes.

     In the northeast, adjacent to the Tanzania border, Kagera National Park,
one of Africa's major game preserves, encloses more than 1,000 square
miles-one-tenth of the nation's entire land area.

     Most of the well-known African animal species are native to Rwanda.
Lion, elephant, buffalo, zebra, various kinds of gazelles and related grazing
and browsing species, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, warthog, gorilla, and other
animals are found in Rwanda. Many thrive especially well in the savannas,
swamps and meadowlands of Kagera National Park. There are also pythons,
cobras, and other snakes, as well as crocodiles. A variety of fishes,
including local species of pike and perch, are found in the various waters
except Lake Kivu, where methane-producing organisms discourage fish life.
Many types of tropic and temperate zone aquatic and land birds are found in
Rwanda.

Minerals

     Known mineral resources include columbo-tantalite, beryllium ore,
amblygonite (phosphate of lithium), cassiterite (tin ore), wolframite
(tungsten ore), and small quantities of gold and the rare earths (uranium
ores). Large quantities of methane are dissolved in the waters of Lake Kivu.
Certain lava beds in the west and northwest contain potassium compounds that
can be used for fertilizers.

     None of the metallic ores has proved to be rich enough to have a major
effect on the economy (see Industry, ch. 9). The most heavily mineralized area
extends from the Congo-Nile Crest eastward across the plateaus to the capital
at Kigali. Small amounts of various ores have been recorded in most areas
except the northeast.

Transportation and Communications

     The road network is extensive, but only a few miles have been
hard-surfaced. Many routes are impassable during the rainy months. The system
was developed by the Belgians, primarily to link the administrative and
commercial centers that they had initiated. Unsurfaced dirt roads, typically
constructed of laterite, connect the capital at Kigali with all 10
prefectures. Counting local routes and unfinished tracks, the system includes
about 3,090 route miles, among the densest networks in Africa. There are few
bridges; many river crossings are simple fords, passable only during dry
seasons. About 1,360 miles of this network may be considered main roads,
maintained by the national Government. The remaining 1,730 miles includes
secondary roads, trails and tracks, maintained to some degree by local
authorities (see Domestic Trade, ch. 8).

     The road northeastward from Kigali to the border settlement of
Kagitumba is the most important route for external trade, providing a road
connection with the railhead at Kampala, Uganda, some 235 miles from
Kagitumba and 350 miles from central Rwanda. This railhead is an
important connection with outside trade centers, including the Indian
Ocean port of Mombasa, about 800 miles southeast of Kampala. Another important
road route extends from Kigali to the southern border and on through Burundi
to Bujumbura, trade center and port on Lake Tanganyika, a water route to towns
and road connections farther south. A second road route to Bujumbura extends
southward through the Great Rift Valley from Lake Kivu.

     There are no railroads within the country, and no foreign railroads
penetrate to the borders. Thus, although their carrying capacity is limited,
roads are almost the only means of moving the nation's limited tonnages of
internal and external trade.

     None of the rivers is navigable for any significant distance. Local
water freight movement is limited to Lake Kivu and to short stretches of other
lakes and rivers that have only negligible importance. Lake steamers from
Congo (Kinshasa) serve the settlements of Kibuye, Cyangugu, and Gisenyi. In
1968 these lakeside settlements had only very small docks and warehouse
facilities.

     By early 1969 the most important airfield, at Kigali, was adequate
to permit landing and limited servicing of four-engine jet aircraft.
There were smaller airfields of limited capability at Bugarama, Butare,
Cyangugu, Gabiro (near Kagera National Park), Gako, Gisenyi, Kagitumba,
Nemba, Nyabisindu, and Ruhengeri.

     A Government Post Office, under the Ministry of Postal Services,
Telecommunications and Transport, distributes mail twice a week. Some
additional services are provided to prefecture officials and burgomasters
in the communes.

     In 1967 a telephone system serving 300 subscribers in Kigali was
replaced by a system for 600, which could be expanded to 2,000. Five
other settlements have limited telephone services - Butare, Cyangugu, Gisenyi,
Gitarama, and Nyabisindu (Nyanza). Small radio transmitters and receivers
provide telephone connections with the administrative center of each
prefecture. A 1-kilowatt transmitter connects Kigali with Bujumbura, and a
5-kilowatt unit reaches Nairobi, Kenya, and Brussels, Belgium. With assistance
from the Netherlands, a telecommunications systems connecting Kigali with
Kampala, Uganda, was expected to become operational during 1969. A public
radio transmitter of 50-kilowatts power broadcasts from Kigali, distributing
instruction, news, and entertainment (see Public Information, ch. 7).

Living Patterns and Conditions

     The pattern of life is overwhelmingly rural, 95 percent of the
population being engaged in agriculture. Despite the high density of the
population, estimated at 360 per square mile in 1969, there is a very limited
degree of urbanization. The few existing villages are products of European
rule that were established primarily as administrative centers. In recent
years there has been a moderate degree of migration to the few existing
towns, which are in fact enlarged settlements. Kigali, the capital and
the only center with a population greater than 5,000, has grown from 4,800
in 1959 to an estimated 15,000 in 1968.

     In the rural areas the traditional ways of life remain the dominant
pattern. Each family occupies a self-contained home-stead on its own plot of
land. Family units, spread over the summits and slopes of the hills, consist
of a small beehive-shaped hut, an inzu, and a courtyard within a circular
enclosure. Hut size is reduced to the minimum since most activities, including
cooking, are carried on in the open air. The dwellings of wealthy landowners
are generally larger, the size depending on the wealth and status of the
owner, and may include several courtyards. Even a poor family may farm several
small plots of land, preferably at different altitudes or on different types
of slope or soil, to reduce the risk of crop failure. The hut itself may be
burned after several years of use, when its grass roof has rotted and vermin
have infested the entire structure. The soil of the hut area, enriched by
the ashes, is soon producing crops while a new hut is built elsewhere.

     Surrounding the enclosed compound is the family banana plantation, the
produce of which is used in the making of beer, a drink important in social
functions. Around the banana plantation are several plots used for growing
beans, sorghum, corn, and other crops. A family may also work other small
pieces of land, separate from the compound, on the lower slopes and in the
valleys.

     The rhythm of rural life follows the agricultural calendar. Since
storage is limited and difficult, it is necessary that one or several food
crops be maturing throughout the year. September, which marks the end of the
principal dry season, is a time of tilling the soil in preparation for
planting. Corn, beans, peas, and millet are generally planted during October
and early November in order to gain the maximum benefit from the principal
rainy season. Beans and peas are ready for harvest in January, and then
sorghum is planted. The principal root crops, cassava (manioc), and sweet
potatoes, are planted in the lowlands during February and on the hills in
March. The cassava matures beginning in May, whereas corn and sorghum, along
with the second bean crop, are ready for harvest during June and July (see
Agriculture, ch. 9).

     Each crop is harvested with great selectivity. Sweet potatoes large
enough to eat are extracted from the earth without disturbing the rest of the
plant. Green vegetables and beans are individually collected. By planting a
variety of crops the subsistence farmer seeks to insure against disastrous
losses resulting from drought, insects, blight, and roving warthogs or
antelope.

     Settlement is concentrated on the crests and slopes of the hills; the
lower lands have been avoided because of higher temperatures and the health
hazards posed by the tsetse fly. The preference for living on the upper
slopes is deeply ingrained, and the pattern prevails even though the family
water supply must be carried up from the valleys. The heaviest concentrations
of population are found in the areas where the soil is most fertile, the
central plateau regions of Butare (Astrida) and Ruhengeri.

     Because of the high population density, reaching a high of 678 per square
mile in Ruhengeri Prefecture in 1966, all available land is used for either
crops or pasture. Terracing is employed on the hillsides. The amount of arable
land available is only 3 1/4 acres per family. Considering the generally poor
soil, absence of fertilizer, and low level of technology, this amount is
insufficient. There are also about 3 1/4 acres of pastureland per head of
cattle, but these animals are kept primarily for prestige rather than for food
(see Agriculture, ch. 9).

     With the implementation in 1952 of the Ten-Year Development Plan for the
Economic and Social Development of Ruanda-Urundi, the Belgian Administration
carried out a program of tsetse-fly and mosquito eradication in the lowlands
and initiated the resettlement of some of the population from the overcrowded
regions. It proved difficult, however, to persuade residents of the densely
populated uplands to move to these new developments in the southeast and in
the Ruzizi Valley of the southwest.

     The per capita annual income is one of the lowest in Africa, $40 in
1961. The average Rwandan buys few consumer goods, and the industrial sector
is very limited. The Government considers the improvement of living conditions
to be of first priority and an important part of the current Five-Year Plan
(1967-1972). Its goals include general economic progress, the increased
production of food crops, and more adequate means of distribution (see
Agriculture, ch. 9; Economic and Financial Systems, ch. 8).

Nutrition and Health

[See Public Health Meeting: Courtesy Embassy of Rwanda, Washington DC.]

     The diet varies with the agricultural season, although some crops, such
as cassava, sweet potatoes, and bananas, are usually available all year.
Seasonal foods such as corn, peas, beans, and millet are commonly used. Foods
of vegetable origin make up most of the meals. Despite the abundance of
cattle, meat consumption is minimal. An investigation of the eating habits of
a representative cross-section of Rwandans revealed that 56 percent of the
meals included sweet potatoes and 50 percent included beans.

     Few people eat meat more than once or twice a month, and many even less
frequently since for most, it is a luxury they cannot afford. To some,
particularly to Tutsi women, meat is taboo. Also, for reasons of tradition,
when meat is eaten it is always from a cow, never from a bull or ox. Fish is
eaten by only a small portion of the population and is almost unknown in the
upland areas.

     The average diet is inadequate and unbalanced nutritionally, running
heavily to starch and deficient in fats and proteins. Many of the health
problems are directly related to deficiencies in diet. Even though the
prevalent nutritional diseases are not usually fatal, they are debilitating,
breaking down resistance to a long and varied list of other diseases that
affect much of the population, especially the children.

     Kwashiorkor, a serious form of malnutrition caused by a shortage of
protein, is particularly prevalent and damaging among young children. It is
frequently caused by the sudden changeover from a protein to a predominantly
carbohydrate diet when the child is weaned. It results in the death of many
children and a high rate of incidence of liver disorders among older people
who have survived it. A government study states that protein and related
deficiency conditions account for 11 percent of hospital deaths. In addition,
the physical weaknesses brought about by kwashiorkor play an important role in
deaths attributed to pneumonia, tuberculosis, whooping cough, and some types
of dysentery. The investigation report concludes that malnutrition is the
greatest single health problem.

     Of the infectious diseases, those presenting the most serious problems
are bronchial and lobar pneumonia. Together these are cited as accounting for
25 percent of all hospital deaths. Intestinal illnesses constitute another
major health problem, and 11 percent of recorded hospital deaths are
attributed to various types of dysentery. In 1968 there were 20,600 cases of
whooping cough reported, 22,600 cases of measles, and an estimated 50,000
cases of tuberculosis. An epidemic of infectious hepatitis in 1965 was
attributed to contaminated drinking water. Poor sanitation and water pollution
also contribute to the spread of bacillic and amoebic dysentery and intestinal
parasites.

     By 1968 Government planners were placing heavy emphasis on preventive
health measures, such as the improvement of nutrition levels and sanitation,
as well as the extension of facilities for medical treatment. Implementation
of the plan, however, has been limited by lack of sufficient financing and
adequately trained personnel.

     Both preventive health programs and medical treatment services are
included under the responsibilities of the Ministry of Public Health. The
Government considers the improvement of health conditions a matter of great
importance and has directed a sizable portion of the national budget to health
services. The funds allocated to the Ministry of Public Health amounted to
about 7 percent of the annual national budget between 1966-68 (see Economic
and Financial Systems, ch. 8).

     In 1968 the ratio of medical doctors was 1 to each 95,000 inhabitants
although there was a medical assistant, having less training than a doctor,
for every 70,000 inhabitants. There were 20 hospitals, 82 dispensaries, 14
maternity wards, 1 sanatorium and 1 leprosarium. Of the hospitals, 11 were
under direct Government administration, 7 were administered by missionary
societies, and 2 by the private mining companies. Missionary organizations
sponsored 19 dispensaries, and the Government administered 68. Medical
personnel, including nurses, nurses' aides and accredited midwives, totaled
538.

     Under the Belgian technical assistance program an agreement was signed
in October 1967 by which Belgium agreed to place 15 doctors at the disposal of
Rwanda and to provide medicines and medical equipment. The agreement also
included plans for Belgium to build a new hospital center in Kigali, in 1968,
which was to include a 60-bed clinic and an 80-bed hospitalization unit, at
an estimated cost of RF72 million (1 Rwandan franc equals approximately
U.S.$0.01). Another hospital was projected for Ruhengeri, to be built with
the aid of French funds, and the United States agreed to assist with the
building of a water purification plant in Kigali.