Rwanda

Rwanda is a small landlocked country in East Africa. It is situated slightly below the equator. Rwanda lies south of Uganda, west of Tanzania, north of Burundi, and east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Rwanda's territory covers 26,338 square kilometers (10,166 square miles). This means that Rwanda is about the size of Maryland or Vermont and slightly larger than Massachusetts. The terrain is quite hilly, ranging between roughly 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) to 4,500 meters (14,765 feet) above sea level, and is, given the plentiful grassland, verdant. There is considerable deforestation owing to extensive cutting of trees for fuel and to clear land.

Principal economic activities include agriculture (tea, coffee, sorghum, and bananas) and mining. The vast majority (90%) of the labor force is engaged in agriculture, mostly at the subsistence level. Because food production often does not keep pace with population growth, considerable amounts of food must be imported. The Rwandan economy is susceptible to price fluctuations in international commodities markets.

population

Rwanda's population was estimated at 7,810,056 in July 2003, and 42.5 percent of Rwandans are under age fifteen. The country's median age is eighteen years. In 2003 life expectancy at birth was estimated at about thirty-nine years (men: 38.5 years; women: 40 years). Even though the population is predominantly rural, Rwanda's population density is the highest in Africa.

Rwanda's population is divided among three ethnic groups: Hutu (85%), Tutsi (14%), and Twa (1%). These ethnic groups are found throughout East Africa. However, all Rwandans speak the same language, Kinyarwanda (many Rwandans also speak French and, increasingly, English), and share a common culture. Religious affiliations are not ethnically driven. Although the majority of the population is Roman Catholic, there are significant Protestant, Seventh Day Adventist, and Muslim minorities. Hutu and Tutsi, in particular, live geographically commingled.

Nonetheless, much of the modern history of Rwanda has been characterized by ethnic strife, specifically between Hutu and Tutsi. The most acute form of this strife occurred in the 1994 genocide, in which approximately 800,000 Rwandans, overwhelmingly Tutsi, were murdered. Political life in Rwanda today is dominated by the pursuit of accountability and reconciliation in the wake of the 1994 genocide. This pursuit engages much of the infrastructure of the legal system, the creativity of policy makers, and the resources of the government. This is understandable as it will be very difficult for Rwanda to move beyond systemic interethnic conflict without first establishing viable justice, legitimate reconciliation, and credible reparation .

brief history

In the precolonial period the Tutsi minority dominated the Hutu majority economically and politically. However, lines between the groups were porous and permeable. Through marriage or professional success Hutu could in a sense "become" Tutsi. In 1933 the Belgian colonial powers crystallized ethnic identities by issuing ethnic identity cards. The Belgians favored the Tutsi, to whom they doled out patronage appointments within the colonial state.

In 1959 the majority Hutu overthrew the ruling Tutsi king. On July 1, 1962, Rwanda gained its independence from Belgian-administered United Nations (UN) trusteeship. Interethnic tensions worsened after independence and were exacerbated by the democratic process, which deepened ethnic cleavages, accelerated ethnic competition for scarce land and resources, and ethnicized political discourse. Rwanda's first president was Grégoire Kayibanda (1924–1976), a Hutu intellectual. In 1957 Kayibanda published an influential tract called the Hutu Manifesto in which he argued that the Tutsi were foreign invaders. Over the next several years thousands of Tutsis were killed. Those pogroms also drove 150,000 other Tutsi into exile in neighboring countries, in particular Uganda. Rwandan exiles in Uganda eventually formed a political party, called the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), with its own armed forces, the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA, now called the Rwandan Defense Forces)—both of which would end up playing a critical role in contemporary Rwandan politics.

In the early 1990s anti-Tutsi sentiment was catalyzed when the RPA invaded Rwanda. The armed forces of the Rwandan government repelled the incursion. However, the RPF threat prompted then President Juvénal Habyarimana (1937–1994), a Hutu who had ruled Rwanda since 1973, to suggest publicly the need for power sharing among ethnic groups and political parties (although there is cause to question the authenticity of Habyarimana's intention to implement power sharing).

Habyarimana was killed in an airplane crash on April 6, 1994, along with the leader of neighboring Burundi. Although the Hutu government charged that the plane was shot down by the RPA, evidence also exists that it was downed by extremist Hutu who were suspicious of Habyarimana's apparent power-sharing reforms. In any event, a radical clique of Hutu militants succeeded Habyarimana. Those militants immediately put in place plans for genocide that they had concocted much earlier.

From April to July 1994 those extremists initiated a populist genocide. The approximately 800,000 victims, many of whom were butchered in brutal fashion, were overwhelmingly Tutsi. Between 10,000 and 30,000 Hutu also were murdered. These victims mostly were moderates opposed to the genocide, killed as individuals and because of their politics. The Tutsi, in contrast, were killed as a group and solely because they were Tutsi. The speed of the genocide was facilitated by the ethnic identity cards: People without a Hutu card were killed systematically.

In the spring of 1994 the RPA once again invaded Rwanda. This time the armed forces of the genocidal Hutu regime could not repel the RPA. The RPA stopped the genocide essentially without assistance from the international community. International peacekeeping efforts in Rwanda were weak and ineffective.

In mid-July 1994 the RPF assumed power in Rwanda and has continued to govern the country. In March 1999 the RPF put in place the first local elections held in Rwanda. On August 25, 2003, RPF leader Major-General Paul Kagame (b. 1957) was reelected in the national presidential election. Kagame, who had received military training in the United States, previously had served as the mastermind of the RPA's ouster of the Hutu government.

After the genocide tens of thousands of Hutu militants fled east to the DRC. For a number of years these forces sought to destabilize the RPF government. In response Rwanda engaged in military action with the DRC.

socioeconomic conditions

Historically a poor nation, Rwanda was devastated by the genocide. The UN lists Rwanda (together with Sierra Leone and Bangladesh) among the countries with the lowest human development index in the world. In 2002 gross domestic product per capita was just $1,200.

HIV/AIDS is a major public health issue. In 2001 nearly 9 percent of adult Rwandans were living with HIV/AIDS. Many people were infected deliberately during the genocide through systemic sexual violence. Mental health issues also are a major public policy concern. They include post-traumatic stress disorder, fear of new attacks, and massive depression among Tutsi survivors in Rwanda. Nearly 50 percent of Rwandan children witnessed genocidal killings.

government: structure and political parties

After the genocide Rwanda became a republic. There is, therefore, a president. The legislature, composed of the unicameral Assemblée nationale (National Assembly), hosts a multiparty system. There are fifty-three seats in the Assemblée nationale. Members are elected by direct vote. The president serves as the chief of state, and the prime minister (a member of the legislature) is the chief of government.

Although their effectiveness is limited, a number of political parties operate in Rwanda. They include the Centrist Democratic Party, Democratic Socialist Party, Democratic Popular Union of Rwanda, Democratic Republican Movement, Islamic Democratic Party, Liberal Party, and Rwandan Socialist Party. The RPF is the dominant party. One party, the Party for Democratic Renewal, is officially banned.

The capital is Kigali, which also is the largest city. There is universal suffrage for Rwandans eighteen years of age and older.

There also is a local government system. Rwanda is divided into twelve préfectures, each with its own administrative center. The préfectures are Butare, Byumba, Cyangugu, Gikongoro, Gisenyi, Gitarama, Kibungo, Kibuye, Kigali Rurale, Kigali-ville, Umutara, and Ruhengeri. Within each préfecture there are well-organized subunits of government. In descending hierarchical order, these are the commune (155 in total), the secteur (1,531 in total), and the cellule (8,987 in total). The highly organized nature of the governmental bureaucracy facilitated the speed and scale of the genocide.

power and leadership

Despite the multiparty framework, politics and power in Rwanda remain centralized within the RPF. President Kagame received 95 percent of the popular vote in the August 25, 2003, presidential election, although opposition candidates leveled charges of improprieties during the campaign. In the legislative elections held on September 29, 2003, the RPF won forty seats in the Assemblée nationale; the Democratic Socialist Party, seven seats; and the Liberal Party, six.

Because the Tutsi dominate the RPF, the Rwandan government can be thought of as an ethnocracy , and power sharing, inclusiveness, and effective governance had not been achieved by 2005. Nonetheless, the RPF has initiated some reforms to pluralize power distribution, transcend ethnicity, and promulgate some sort of consociational political structure. Also, the government is striving to create a Rwandan civic identity and, in furtherance of that goal, has removed ethnic references from schoolbooks and official identification documents. The government also has added the crime of divisionism to the domestic criminal code, an offense that includes speaking too provocatively about ethnicity.

Rwandan's traditionally weak civil society is becoming increasingly robust. Genocide survivors have engaged in considerable social activism and have formed a variety of pressure groups. One in particular, IBUKA, has gained considerable credibility and influence.

constitution and legal system

Rwanda's legal system is based on the German and Belgian civil law system. The courts are structured in standard fashion: Local (communal) courts are overseen by appeals courts, which in turn are overseen by the Supreme Court. Because the Rwandan judiciary historically has been plagued with corruption, Rwandans tend to view the administration of justice with great skepticism. The RPF has expended considerable effort to improve the credibility and legitimacy of the legal system. For example, Rwanda adopted a constitution on May 5, 1995, and then adopted a revised constitution on May 26, 2003, designed to encourage a multiparty and more open political system. There is judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court. Increasingly there is talk of the need to protect human rights.

Rwandan courts are overburdened with genocide-related cases. Rwanda has seen a vigorous attempt to secure accountability through the use of criminal prosecutions and trials. The genocide has prompted the largest number of actual or pending prosecutions for systematic human rights abuses in the shortest order in history. As of mid-2004 approximately 6,500 individuals had been tried in domestic courts under the Organic Law, a statute specially enacted in 1996 for the prosecution of genocide-related offenses. As many as 30,000 additional individuals have been paroled (provisionally released) in recent years owing to lack of evidence, age, infirmity, illness, or confession of crimes. Another 80,000 suspects remain imprisoned pending a formal legal process.

Many of the individuals who have been paroled have participated in informal community dispute resolution, called gacaca. In Kinyarwanda gacaca means "judgment on the grass." All the members of a village gather together to adjudge crimes alleged to have taken place in the village. In October 2000 the Assemblée nationale approved legislation establishing gacaca tribunals to hear genocide-related charges, and gacaca was launched officially through a pilot project in June 2002. Progress has been slow, halting, and subject to considerable delay. Gacaca sentences are geared to reintegrating the offender. Those adjudged by gacaca tribunals can serve half their sentences outside prison doing community work. That work includes renovating houses partially destroyed during the genocide or building new houses for survivors. Reparation generally and restitution specifically also are important goals.

role of international institutions

Rwandans express considerable skepticism toward international institutions. This is a consequence of the startlingly ineffective UN peacekeeping operations in Rwanda in 1994. Those operations did little to stop the violence.

Rwanda is a member of many international organizations and has signed a number of international treaties. However, implementation of treaty obligations remains difficult because of infrastructural limitations and resource constraints.

The international institution with the highest profile in Rwanda is the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), established by the UN Security Council on November 8, 1994. The ICTR investigates and prosecutes a select number of political, military, and civic officials for their involvement in the 1994 genocide. It has jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The ICTR has issued convictions for each of those crimes.

Of the twenty individuals convicted by the ICTR as of mid-2004, eleven have been sentenced to life imprisonment, one to a term of thirty-five years, one to a term of thirty years, one to a term of twenty-seven years, three to terms of twenty-five years, and the remainder to terms ranging from ten to fifteen years. The ICTR cannot issue a death sentence. There are no Rwandans among the ICTR judges or prosecutors. This somewhat ironic reality is the result of a deliberate decision by the international community that this is the best way to maintain the impartiality of the proceedings. The ICTR has contributed to the development of international criminal law. For example, it broke new ground by convicting persons for sexual violence as a crime against humanity. It also has convicted media leaders for disseminating hate propaganda that incited genocide.

However, surveys of the Rwandan people reveal mixed attitudes toward the ICTR's work, and most Rwandans express feelings of ambivalence or antipathy. Many Rwandans view the ICTR as a poor excuse for the more preventive measures the UN and powerful states could have instituted to prevent the violence in the first place. Moreover, many Rwandans are perplexed by the fact that genocidal leaders are subject to an international institution instead of Rwandan justice.

See also: Genocide.

bibliography

Chua, Amy. World on Fire. New York: Anchor Books, 2004.

Dallaire, Roméo. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. Toronto, Canada: Random House Canada, 2003.

DesForges, Alison. "Rwanda." In Playing the "Communal Card": Communal Violence and Human Rights, ed. Human Rights Watch. New York: Human Rights Watch, 1995.

Drumbl, Mark A. "Punishment, Postgenocide: From Guilt to Shame to 'Civis' in Rwanda." New York University Law Review 75 (2000):1221–1326.

Gourevitch, Philip. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1998.

Mamdani, Mahmood. When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001.

Prunier, Gérard. The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.

"Rwanda." CIA World Factbook 2004. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, 2004.

Sarkin, Jeremy. "The Tension between Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda: Politics, Human Rights, Due Process and the Role of the Gacaca Courts in Dealing with the Genocide." Journal of African Law 45, no. 2 (2001):143–172.

U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. "Rwanda." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2003. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, 2004. <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27744.htm>.

Uvin, Peter, and Charles Mironko. "Western and Local Approaches to Justice in Rwanda." Global Governance 9 (2003):219–231.

Vandeginste, Stef. "Rwanda: Dealing with Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in the Context of Armed Conflict and Failed Political Transition." In Burying the Past, ed. Neil Biggar. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2001.

Verwimp, Philip. "Development Ideology, the Peasantry and Genocide: Rwanda Represented in Habyarimana's Speeches." Journal of Genocide Research 2, no. 3 (2000):325–361.

Mark A. Drumbl,

Michelle S. Lyon