INDEPTH: RWANDA
Introduction
CBC News Online | August 26, 2003 Updated Nov. 14, 2003
President Paul Kagame
|
On August 25, 2003, Paul Kagame, a former Tutsi rebel, was elected as Rwanda's first president since 800,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were systematically slaughtered between April and June 1994.
The genocide was sparked when a plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down over Kigali airport on April 6, 1994, but ethnic tension between Hutus and Tutsis dates back to the colonial period, when Rwanda was a Belgian colony.
The Belgians saw clear ethnic distinctions between the two groups and tended to
favour the minority Tutsis in government positions. The power shifted in 1959, when civil war forced 200,000 Tutsis to flee the country.
The Tutsis became victims of Hutu massacres throughout the past four decades, but the worst slaughter occurred in spring 1994: most of the killings, which took place during a 100-day period were carried out by a well-organized force of 8,000 extremist Hutus.
In 1998, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, northern Tanzania, handed down its first genocide conviction. The tribunal found Jean-Paul Akayesu, a former mayor, to have incited the murder of 2,000 people and he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
On November 6, 2003, four former Rwandan government officials went on trial on charges of planning and taking part in the 1994 genocide.
The UN Security Council set up the tribunal in 1994. It has convicted 12 people and acquitted one. As of November 2003, there were still 56 defendants in detention.
The tribunal has come under attack by several genocide survivor organizations for being inefficient and mismanaged.
^TOP
|
|
 |
 MENU |
|
|
| VIEWPOINT: |
|
|
| QUICK FACTS: |
Population: 7,810,056
Capital: Kigali
Government type: Republic
President: Paul Kagame
Ethnicity: 85% Hutu, 14% Tutsi
Major languages: Kinyarwanda, English and French are official languages. Swahili is also used.
Major religions: Catholic (56.5%), Protestant (26%), Adventist (11.1%), Muslim (4.6%)
Location: Land-locked nation in central Africa, bordering Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Area: 26,338 km sq.
Life expectancy: 39.33 years
Median age: 18.1 years
Natural resources: Gold, tin ore, tungsten ore, methane
Canadian imports from: Coffee ($700,000)
Canadian exports to: Electrical machinery ($800,000 and worn clothing $100,000)
Sources: CIA World Factbook and Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
|
|
| EXTERNAL LINKS: |
|
|
| MORE: |
|
|
|
CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites. Links will open in new window.
