Rwanda
Name
| Official name | Republic of Rwanda — Repubulika y'u Rwanda (Kinyarwanda) · République du Rwanda (French) · Jamhuri ya Rwanda (Swahili) |
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| Former names | The Rwandese Republic of the constitutions of 1962–2003; Ruanda-Urundi of the Belgian mandate and trusteeship (1922–62) and the Ruanda of German East Africa (1899–1916); the Kingdom of Rwanda of the Nyiginya mwami (c. 1500–1961) |
| Demonym | Rwandan; Banyarwanda, the people of Rwanda, of the language wherever they live |
| Meaning of the name | From the Kinyarwanda kwanda, "to expand" or "to spread" — the domain that grew outward from the central hills of Gasabo under the kings, "u Rwanda" the land of the expansion; the Banyarwanda the people, Kinyarwanda the tongue, "Kigali" perhaps "the wide" |
| Motto | "Ubumwe, Umurimo, Gukunda Igihugu" — Unity, Work, Patriotism; on the arms since 2001 |
Quick facts
| Capital | Kigali — the German post of 1907 at the country's center, the capital since 1962; about 1.5 million in the City of Kigali province |
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| Largest cities | Kigali; Gisenyi, the Rubavu of the lake shore across the border from Goma, the crossing closed for the Ebola in May 2026; Butare, now Huye, the colonial capital and the university of 1963; Ruhengeri, now Musanze, the gorilla gateway at the foot of the volcanoes; Muhanga, the Gitarama of the republic's birth; Rwamagana; Cyangugu, now Rusizi, across from Bukavu; Byumba; Nyanza of the kings' palace; Kibuye, now Karongi, of the lake; the secondary cities of the master plan |
| Official languages | Kinyarwanda — the Bantu language of nearly all, the one language of the three groups, the tongue of the hills and of the Banyarwanda of Uganda and the Congo, the national language; French, the colonial language of the Belgians and of the elite until the turn of 2008; English, made the language of the schools in 2009 in the turn from Paris to the Commonwealth, the language of the state's business; Swahili, official since 2017 for the East African Community; the four of the Constitution |
| Currency | Rwandan franc — RWF, FRw; since 1964; about 1,450 to the U.S. dollar |
| Time zone | Central Africa Time, UTC+2; no summer time |
| Calling code | +250 |
| Internet domain | .rw |
| ISO 3166 codes | RW · RWA · 646 |
| Vehicle registration code | RWA |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and J |
| Independence | 1 July 1962, from Belgium, the trusteeship of Ruanda-Urundi ended by the United Nations and the two republics of Rwanda and Burundi, Grégoire Kayibanda the first president; the monarchy abolished by the referendum of 25 September 1961; 4 July 1994, the Liberation Day of the RPF's taking of Kigali, the holiday of the state |
| National days | 1 July, Independence Day; 4 July, Liberation Day, the parade and the president's speech; 7 April, the Genocide against the Tutsi Memorial Day, the start of the hundred days of Kwibuka, the week of mourning and the flame; 1 February, National Heroes' Day; 1 August, Umuganura, the harvest thanksgiving of the kings restored; the last Saturday of the month, Umuganda, the community work of the whole nation, the roads closed; 1 May; the Eids of the Muslims; 15 August; 25 and 26 December; 1 January |
| Constitution | 4 June 2003 — the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda, approved by the referendum of 26 May 2003 with 93% and promulgated 4 June, the charter of the "consensus democracy" of the presidential republic: the president elected for seven years and two terms, the prime minister and the cabinet of his choice, the Chamber of Deputies of 80 with the 24 seats reserved for women, the Senate of 26, the Supreme Court, the "national unity" and the ban on the ethnic politics and the "divisionism"; the revision of 18 December 2015 approved by 98% of the referendum that cut the term to five years from 2024 and reset the count for Kagame alone, the seven-year term of 2017–24 and the two of five to 2034; the constitutions of 1962, 1978 and 1991 and the Arusha of 1993 before it |
| Population | 13,246,394 at the census of August 2022, the fifth; about 14.3 million (NISR, 2026 est.) |
| Area | 26,338 km² (10,169 sq mi) — land 24,668 km², water 1,670 km² of Kivu and the lakes; the 149th of the world and among the smallest of Africa; landlocked |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Three horizontal bands of sky blue, yellow and green, the blue twice the width of the others, with a golden sun of 24 rays in the upper fly — the blue for happiness and peace, the yellow for the economic development and the mineral wealth, the green for the prosperity, the hope and the natural resources, the sun for the enlightenment, the transparency and the unity that dispel the ignorance; adopted 25 October 2001 by the RPF government in place of the red, yellow and green tricolor of 1961 with the black R that had flown over the genocide and that the new state would not keep, the design of the engineer Alphonse Kirimobenecyo; the flag flown at half-staff for the hundred days of April.Flag of Rwanda |
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| Coat of arms | A green ring tied in a square knot at the base, the sun of the flag at the top, a sorghum stalk and a coffee branch at the sides, a traditional basket, the agaseke, and a cog wheel of the industry at the center over two crossed shields of the protection of the sovereignty, the motto on the scroll — "Ubumwe, Umurimo, Gukunda Igihugu"; adopted 25 October 2001 with the flag in place of the arms of 1962 of the machete and the hoe |
| National anthem | "Rwanda Nziza" ("Beautiful Rwanda") — the words of Faustin Murigo of the Karubanda prison and the music of Captain Jean-Bosco Hashakimana of the army band, adopted 1 January 2002 in place of "Rwanda Rwacu," the anthem of 1962 whose associations the new state would not sing; "Rwanda, our beautiful and dear country, adorned with hills, lakes and volcanoes, motherland, would be always filled with happiness"; the four verses of the heritage, the heroes and the unity |
| National motto | "Ubumwe, Umurimo, Gukunda Igihugu" — Unity, Work, Patriotism |
| National colors | Blue, yellow and green |
| National animal | The mountain gorilla of the Virungas, the 1,000 and more of the two populations that the Volcanoes park protects, the only great ape whose numbers grow, the Kwita Izina naming ceremony of every September that names the year's infants before the world, the US$1,500 permit of an hour with a family; the grey crowned crane of the wetlands; the leopard of the old kings' skins; the long-horned Inyambo cattle of the royal herds paraded at Nyanza; widely cited |
| National flower | None official — the umuvumu fig of the sacred groves and the kings' enthronement the tree of the tradition; the agave of the hedges; the banana of every hill; widely cited |
| National dish | Ugali, the ubugali of the cassava or maize flour, with isombe, the pounded cassava leaves with the palm oil and the groundnuts; the brochettes of the goat with the fried bananas and the chili of the akabanga, the dish of every bar; the ibihaza pumpkin and beans, the agatogo of the bananas and the meat, the matoke, the sweet potatoes and the beans of the hills, the Akagera tilapia; the urwagwa banana beer, the ikivuguto sour milk of the cattle keepers, the coffee the country grows and now drinks, the Skol and Mützig of the Bralirwa; widely cited |
| National sport | Football, the Amavubi, the Wasps, of the Africa Cup of Nations of 2004, the one, the APR and Rayon Sports of the league, the "Visit Rwanda" of the sleeves of Arsenal since 2018, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Atlético Madrid, US$40 million a year the critics count against the aid; cycling, the Tour du Rwanda of 1988 and the UCI Road World Championships of Kigali of 21–28 September 2025, the first in Africa, Pogačar's rainbow jersey on the Mount Kigali climb, the Team Rwanda of the "Rising from Ashes"; basketball, the Kigali Arena of 2019 and the Basketball Africa League's finals; volleyball; the athletics of the "Kigali Peace Marathon"; the Formula 1 bid of the president's ambition; the Intore dance of the warriors the sport of the kings; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag, the arms and the motto by the law of 25 October 2001; the anthem by the law of 2002; the animals, the plants, the dishes and the sports widely cited |
Geography
| Location | East-Central Africa, the Great Lakes region south of the equator — Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west across Lake Kivu and the Rusizi; landlocked, 1,200 km from the Indian Ocean at Dar es Salaam and 2,000 from Mombasa; the Albertine Rift of the western edge; the Congo–Nile divide of the highlands |
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| Land borders | 930 km (578 mi) with four neighbors — Burundi 315 of the Akanyaru and the south, the twin state of the same peoples and the war of 2015 and the closure to 2022, reopened; Tanzania 222 on the Kagera of the Rusumo falls and the bridge of the "Central Corridor"; the Democratic Republic of the Congo 221 along Lake Kivu and the Rusizi, the "Grande Barrière" of Gisenyi–Goma, the busiest crossing of Africa by the daily count of 50,000 and closed by Rwanda on 17 May 2026 for the Ituri Ebola, the border of the wars of 1996, 1998 and 2022–26; Uganda 172 of the Gatuna–Katuna crossing closed by Rwanda in 2019–22 in the quarrel and reopened, the Northern Corridor to Mombasa; the Virunga volcanoes on the three-country line |
| Coastline | None — landlocked; the shore of Lake Kivu of 100 km of the Rwandan side, the resorts of Gisenyi and Kibuye and the Kivu Belt road, the port of Gisenyi of the boats to Cyangugu |
| Highest point | Mount Karisimbi, 4,507 m (14,787 ft), in the Virungas on the Congo border |
| Lowest point | The Rusizi river at the Burundi border, 950 m (3,117 ft) |
| Mean elevation | 1,598 m (5,243 ft) — the country of the altitude, temperate at the equator |
| Rivers | The Nyabarongo, the river of the center that rises in the Nyungwe and swings around the capital, 300 km, to become the Kagera at the Burundi border, the Kagera the border river to Tanzania and Uganda and the largest feeder of Lake Victoria and so of the Nile, whose remotest source the expedition of 2006 traced to the Rukarara stream of the Nyungwe forest, 6,758 km from the Mediterranean; the Akanyaru of the Burundi border; the Rusizi from Kivu to Tanganyika of the hydropower dams shared with the Congo and Burundi; the Mukungwa and the Base of the north, the Nyabarongo's marshes of the papyrus; the Rusumo falls of the Kagera where the bodies of 1994 passed; the rivers of the two watersheds, the Nile's east and the Congo's Kivu |
| Lakes | Kivu, 2,700 km² shared with the Congo, 1,040 km² of it Rwandan, 1,460 m above the sea, 480 m deep, the lake of the 60 billion cubic meters of dissolved methane and the carbon dioxide of the "limnic eruption" danger of the Nyos kind, the KivuWatt plant that burns the gas for the grid, the resorts, the Napoleon island of the bats; Muhazi of the east, 34 km long; Burera and Ruhondo of the north under the volcanoes; Ihema, Rwanyakizinga and the lakes of the Akagera of the hippos; Rweru and Cyohoha of the Burundi border; Mugesera; the crater lakes |
| Terrain | The thousand hills — the central plateau of the rounded hills at 1,500 to 2,000 m terraced to the summit, the valleys of the marshes and the banana groves, the "pays des mille collines"; the Congo–Nile crest of the west rising to 3,000 m with the Nyungwe forest of the south and the Gishwati of the north; the Virunga volcanoes of the northwest, Karisimbi, Bisoke, Sabyinyo, Gahinga and Muhabura, of the gorillas and the bamboo; the Rift of Lake Kivu of the west; the savanna of the Akagera of the east and the Bugesera of the south, lower, drier; the Mutara pastures of the northeast; the imidugudu villages of the resettlement on every hill |
| Climate | Temperate tropical highland — the altitude that makes the equator mild, Kigali at 20°C all year with the days of 27 and the nights of 15, the volcanoes cold and the Kivu shore warm; the two rainy seasons of March to May, the long, and October to November, the short, and the two dry seasons, June to September and December to February; 1,000 to 1,500 mm of rain on the hills and 2,000 in the Nyungwe; the landslides of the rains, the May of 2023 that killed 130 in the northwest; the droughts of the east of the Bugesera |
| Natural hazards | Floods and landslides of the deforested hills in the rains — the floods of 2–3 May 2023 of the Western and Northern provinces with 130 dead, the deadliest of the decade, the 2018, the 2020; the volcanoes of the Virungas, Nyiragongo across the border whose eruption of 22 May 2021 sent the lava to Goma and the tremors to Gisenyi and Rubavu with the cracks in the roads, the Nyamulagira; the earthquakes of the Rift, the Cyangugu–Bukavu of 3 February 2008 with 39 dead; the methane of Kivu; the epidemics of the border — the Marburg virus of September to December 2024, the first outbreak, with 15 dead, the Ebola of the Ituri of 2026 that closed the Goma crossing, the mpox; the malaria of the lowlands; the genocide of 1994 the hazard of the state's memory |
| Natural resources | Tin, the cassiterite of the Rutongo and the Gatumba mines; tungsten of the Nyakabingo, one of the largest producers of the world; tantalum, the coltan of the capacitors, the country the largest exporter of tantalum by the trade statistics with the Congolese ore the UN group of experts says is smuggled through Rwanda's mines and refineries; gold, the largest export by value in the 2020s, refined at Kigali from the Congolese gold the UN and the Americans say passes through, the refinery sanctioned on 26 June 2026; the methane of Kivu; the hydropower of the Rusizi and the Nyabarongo; the peat of the marshes; the arable land of every hill, the tea of the Gisovu and the coffee of the Bourbon arabica; the gorillas and the tourists; the "3T" of the conflict minerals and the certification; the lithium and the beryl of the surveys |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 75%, the arable of 47% and the pastures, the terraces to the summit; forest about 18%, the Nyungwe, the Volcanoes, the Gishwati and the eucalyptus plantations of the "one million trees"; the marshes drained for the rice |
| National parks | 4 national parks on about 9% of the land — the Volcanoes National Park of 1925, the Albert National Park of the Belgians, the first national park of Africa, the 160 km² of the Rwandan Virungas of the mountain gorillas, Dian Fossey's Karisoke of 1967 and her grave of 1985, the golden monkeys; the Akagera National Park of 1934 on the Tanzanian border, the savanna of 1,122 km² of the lions returned in 2015 and the rhinos of 2017 and 2021, the "Big Five" restored by African Parks; the Nyungwe National Park of 2004, the 1,019 km² of the largest montane rainforest of East Africa of the 13 primates, the chimpanzees and the colobus troops of 400, the canopy walk, the Nile's source, the World Heritage of 2023; the Gishwati-Mukura National Park of 2015 of the forest restored; the Rugezi marsh of the Ramsar; the Kwita Izina |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 2 — the Nyungwe National Park (2023), the montane forest of the 1,000 plant species and the 322 birds; the Memorial Sites of the Genocide: Nyamata, Murambi, Gisozi and Bisesero (2023), the Nyamata church of the 10,000 killed among the pews and the clothes kept, the Murambi technical school of the 50,000 killed and the lime-preserved bodies, the Kigali memorial of Gisozi of the 250,000 graves and the Bisesero hill of the resistance of the Tutsi of the west; the Intore dance and the Umuganura on the tentative of the intangible |
| Administrative divisions | 5 provinces — intara — of the reform of 1 January 2006 that replaced the twelve prefectures of the old ethnic geography, the City of Kigali and the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western provinces with their governors; 30 districts — uturere — with elected councils and mayors, the units of the "performance contracts," the imihigo, of every mayor before the president; 416 sectors, 2,148 cells and 14,837 villages, the imidugudu, of the state that reaches every hill; the districts renamed from the old towns, Musanze for Ruhengeri, Huye for Butare, Rubavu for Gisenyi, the map of the memory redrawn |
People
| Population | 13,246,394 (census of 2022); about 14.3 million (2026 est.) |
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| Population density | About 540 per km² (1,400 per sq mi) — the highest of mainland Africa, Kigali at 2,000, the hills at 500 |
| Population growth | About 2.3% a year — the fertility falling from 8 in the 1980s, the family planning of the state, the returnees of the 1994 and the 1996 waves, the refugees of the Congo and Burundi hosted at Mahama |
| Median age | About 20 years |
| Life expectancy | About 70 years — from 27 in 1994, the fastest rise on earth, the "Mutuelle de Santé" of the 90% insured and the community health workers |
| Fertility rate | About 3.6 births per woman — from 8.3 in 1985 |
| Urban population | About 18% by the count and 28% by the newer definitions |
| Adult literacy | About 76% |
| Ethnic groups | Hutu about 84%, Tutsi about 15%, Twa about 1% by the last counts that named them — the census of 1991 and the estimates since, the categories of the Belgian identity cards of 1933 that turned the fluid orders of the cattle keepers, the farmers and the forest potters of the kingdom into the "races" of the colonial science, the "Hutu revolution" of 1959, the quotas of the two republics, the genocide of 1994 in which the state and the Interahamwe killed 500,000 to 800,000 by the historians' counts and "more than a million" by the state's, Tutsi almost all and the Hutu who would not kill or who were killed for the politics, in a hundred days from 7 April, the bodies in the churches and the rivers, the survivors of 300,000 — and the categories struck from the cards, the law and the speech by the state of 1994, "there are no Hutu and Tutsi, only Rwandans," the "genocide ideology" and "divisionism" laws that punish the mention, the census of 2022 that did not ask; the Banyarwanda of the Congo and Uganda, the Congolese Tutsi of the M23's claim; the Indians, the Chinese, the Belgians and the Americans of the business; the Congolese and Burundian refugees of the camps |
| Languages | Kinyarwanda by 93% as the mother tongue, the one language the genocide did not divide, the language of the radio of the killings and of the gacaca courts, mutually intelligible with the Kirundi of Burundi in the "Rwanda-Rundi" of 20 million; English by the young of the schools since 2009 and the state; French by the older elite and the returned of Paris and Brussels, the language of the "Francophonie" the country rejoined the summit of; Swahili by the traders and the East African; the Kinyarwanda of the diaspora of the Congo, Uganda and Tanzania; the Rwandan Sign Language |
| Religion | Roman Catholic about 40% by the census of 2022 from the 65% of 1991 and the 44% of 2012, the church of the White Fathers of 1900 and of the kings converted, of the bishops accused of the genocide's silence and the priests convicted, the pope's apology of 2017, the Kibeho apparitions of 1981 approved in 2001; Protestant about 40% and rising, the Anglicans of the province, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Pentecostals of the churches the state closed by the thousands in 2018 and 2024 for the noise and the codes; Seventh-day Adventist about 12%, the schools and the hospitals; Muslim about 2%, the Nyamirambo quarter of Kigali of the Swahili traders, the mosques that hid the Tutsi in 1994; the traditional of Imana the creator and the Ryangombe cult; the Jehovah's Witnesses of the flag refusal; the churches of the genocide sites, Nyamata and Ntarama, the memorials |
| Human Development Index | 0.578 (2023 data, 2025 report) — medium; about 159th of 193 |
| The genocide and the memory | The hundred days of 7 April to mid-July 1994 — the plane of Habyarimana and Ntaryamira of Burundi shot down over Kigali on the evening of 6 April, the roadblocks by the morning, the lists, the Radio Mille Collines of the "cockroaches," the Interahamwe of the machetes and the army, the churches of Nyamata, Ntarama and Nyarubuye, the Murambi school, the Bisesero hill, the UN's Dallaire of the 2,500 and the withdrawal to 270, the "genocide" the word Washington would not say, the French of Turquoise of June, the RPF's advance from the north and the taking of Kigali on 4 July, the two million Hutu who fled to the Congo of the camps and the cholera of Goma; the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda of Arusha of 1994–2015 of the 93 indicted and the 62 convicted, Kambanda the prime minister, Akayesu of the first genocide conviction of any court, Kabuga the financier of the radio and the machetes arrested at Paris in 2020 and dead in custody on 16 May 2026 at 93 unfit for trial; the gacaca courts of 2001–12 on every hill, the 12,000 courts and the 1.9 million cases; the Kwibuka of every April, the "Never Again," the memorials on the World Heritage list, the Paris memorial of "L'Archive" inaugurated by Macron and Kagame on 2 June 2026, Macron's "responsibility" of 2021 without the apology; the survivors' fund, the FARG; the "genocide ideology" law of the 25 years; the Ibuka of the survivors |
| Sport | Football — the Amavubi of the Cup of Nations of 2004 of Tunisia, the only, the qualifying of 2025 lost, the Kigali Pelé Stadium and the Amahoro rebuilt for 45,000 in 2024, APR of the army's club and Rayon Sports, the "Visit Rwanda" of the four European clubs and the CAF's Kigali headquarters of the confederation's new home; cycling of the Tour du Rwanda of every February of the two spectators killed at Gabiro on 22 February 2026, the World Championships of September 2025 of the 1.5 million on the roads, the Africa Rising Cycling Center of Musanze; basketball of the BAL at the Kigali Arena, the FIBA AfroBasket of 2021; the volleyball of the Rwanda Volleyball League; the athletics; the cricket of the Gahanga stadium; the Olympics of Paris 2024 without a medal, the cyclists and the swimmers; the Intore dance; the president's Formula 1 pursuit |
| Diaspora | About a million Rwandans and Banyarwanda abroad — the Congolese of the Kivus of the Banyamulenge and the Banyarwanda of the M23's claim, the Ugandans of the Bafumbira, the Tanzanians of the Kagera; the refugees of 1959 who returned in 1994 and the Hutu of 1994 who returned from the Congo in 1996 and 1997 and the FDLR who did not; the Belgians of Brussels, the French of Paris, the Canadians of Montreal, the Americans, the British, the Kenyans and the Ugandans of the business; the exiles of the opposition, the Karegeya of Johannesburg strangled on New Year's Day 2014, the Nyamwasa of the shootings, the Rusesabagina lured home in 2020 and freed to the Americans in 2023; the "Rwanda Day" of the president's tours of the diaspora; the remittances of US$500 million |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary presidential republic under the Constitution of 2003 — the president elected for five years since 2024 as head of state and the master of the executive, the prime minister of his appointment, the cabinet; the bicameral Parliament of the Chamber of Deputies of 80 and the Senate of 26; the Supreme Court; the "consensus" of the National Forum of the parties that admits and excludes; the Rwandan Patriotic Front the party of the state since 1994 with the allies in coalition; the "developmental state" of the imihigo contracts and the "not free" of Freedom House, the "authoritarian" of the index, the "one of the most repressive states of Africa" of the rights groups and the "safest, cleanest, least corrupt" of the rankings; the president of everything |
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| President | Paul Kagame (Rwandan Patriotic Front — RPF-Inkotanyi), since 22 April 2000 — the sixth president of the republic and the ruler in fact since 1994; born 23 October 1957 at Tambwe in the south, the child of the Tutsi flight of 1959 to Uganda, the refugee of the Gahunge camp, the intelligence chief of Museveni's National Resistance Army that took Kampala in 1986, the commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front after Fred Rwigema's death in the invasion of 1 October 1990, the general of the war of 1990–94 who took Kigali on 4 July 1994 and ended the genocide, the vice president and defense minister of 1994–2000 of the "Bizimungu" presidency he ran, the president by the parliament's vote of 17 April 2000 and by the elections of 25 August 2003 with 95%, 9 August 2010 with 93%, 4 August 2017 with 98.8% and 15 July 2024 with 99.18% against Frank Habineza of the Greens and the independent Philippe Mpayimana with Diane Rwigara and Victoire Ingabire barred, the turnout of 98%; the maker of the "Rwandan miracle" of the growth of 8% a year, the health, the order and the "Vision 2050," the "Singapore of Africa" and the Commonwealth's chair; the accused of the exiles' deaths, the Congo wars of 1996 and 1998 of the millions and of the M23 of 2022–26, the "genocide ideology" law and the closed politics; the president of the Washington Accords signed with Tshisekedi before Trump on 4 December 2025, "fully committed" and "any threat to the peace and security of our people is unacceptable," of the American sanctions on his army of March 2026 and of the FDLR "root cause" of his every answer; the chairman of the African Union of 2018 and the champion of its reform, the host of the Commonwealth of 2022; Jeannette Kagame the first lady of the Imbuto foundation; eligible to 2034; the succession unspoken |
| Prime Minister | Justin Nsengiyumva, since 23 July 2024 — the economist of the London and the Manchester degrees, the permanent secretary of the education and the finance ministries, the deputy governor of the central bank, the ambassador in London and the chairman of the Rwanda Development Board, named in the reshuffle after the election of 2024 in place of Édouard Ngirente, the prime minister of 2017–24; the head of government of the Constitution and the coordinator of the cabinet of the president's policy; the ministers of the president — Olivier Nduhungirehe of the foreign affairs and the Washington signature, Juvénal Marizamunda of the defense, the Rwanda Defence Force of General Mubarakh Muganga the chief of staff sanctioned by Washington, Yusuf Murangwa of the finance; the Speaker of the Chamber Gertrude Kazarwa and the Senate's François-Xavier Kalinda |
| The 2024 election | The presidential and parliamentary elections of 15 July 2024, the first held together: Kagame 99.18% with 8.8 million votes, Habineza 0.53% and Mpayimana 0.32%, the turnout of 98.2% of the 9 million registered, the largest share of any election of the country and of the continent's decade; the candidates barred — Victoire Ingabire of the Dalfa-Umurinzi for the conviction of 2012 and Diane Rwigara for the papers; the Chamber of Deputies of the 53 seats elected by the closed lists, the RPF coalition of 37, the PL 5, the PSD 5, the Ideal Democratic Party, the Greens 2 with their first seats, the 24 women elected by the provincial colleges, the 2 youth and the one of the disabled; the observers of the African Union and the Commonwealth and the absence of the Western; "a referendum" by the readings; the previous election of 4 August 2017 of the 98.8% |
| Parliament | The Parliament — Inteko Ishinga Amategeko — of the Chamber of Deputies of 80 elected for five years, 53 by the proportional lists with the 5% threshold, 24 women by the indirect vote of the women's councils, 2 by the youth council and 1 by the disabled, and the Senate of 26 for five years, 12 elected by the provincial councils, 8 appointed by the president and 4 by the forum of the parties, with the former heads of state; the world's highest share of women, 63.8% of the Chamber of 2024, the first majority of women of any parliament in 2008; the Speaker Gertrude Kazarwa since 2023, the Senate's President François-Xavier Kalinda; the RPF-Inkotanyi of 37 and the coalition, the Liberal Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Ideal Democratic Party, the Democratic Green Party of Habineza of the two seats, the Social Party Imberakuri of the one in the chamber of the "consensus" that votes as one; the Parliament building of the bullet holes of 1994 kept |
| The next election | The presidential and parliamentary elections of 2029, Kagame eligible for the last term to 2034; the local elections of the district councils of 2026–27; the Senate of 2029 |
| The Congo war | The east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo — the Kivus of the Banyarwanda and the Hutu of 1994, the FDLR of the génocidaires' remnant that Kigali names the "root cause" and the "existential threat," the Congo wars of 1996–97 that toppled Mobutu and of 1998–2003 of the five million dead of the "Africa's World War," the CNDP of 2006 and the M23 of 2012 that took Goma for ten days and collapsed in 2013 when the aid was cut, the M23 returned in November 2021 and the offensive of 2022–25 with the 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan troops of the UN group of experts' count and the "Alliance Fleuve Congo" of Corneille Nangaa; Goma taken on 27 January 2025 with 3,000 dead by the UN and Bukavu on 16 February, the Kavumu airport, the Rubaya coltan mine of the 15% of the world's tantalum the UN says is exported through Rwanda, the seven million displaced of the Congo; the diplomacy — the Luanda and Nairobi processes that failed, the Qatar of the Tshisekedi–Kagame meeting of 18 March 2025, the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity signed by the foreign ministers before Rubio on 27 June 2025 with the withdrawal in 90 days, the FDLR's "neutralization," the regional economic framework and the minerals, the Regional Economic Integration Framework of 7 November 2025, the Doha framework of the DRC and M23 of 15 November, the presidents' signature before Trump at Washington on 4 December 2025, the Joint Oversight Committee of 23 April 2026, and the implementation "stalled," the troops not withdrawn, the FDLR not disbanded, the deadlines missed, M23 in Goma and Bukavu through 2026 by the CFR's tracker of August; the American sanctions — Kabarebe, the president's adviser, of February 2025, the Rwanda Defence Force itself and its senior officers of 2 March 2026 for "violating the peace agreement," the visa bans of 6 March, Kabila in Goma of 30 April, the FDLR's Kubwayo of 2 June and the Kigali gold refinery of 26 June for the smuggled Congolese gold, "symbolic" by the Oakland Institute and "the most wide-reaching" by Critical Threats; the aid suspended by Belgium, Britain and Germany, Belgium's diplomats expelled on 17 March 2025; Kigali's "defensive measures" and "the FDLR first" and Kinshasa's "aggression" and "occupation"; the Ebola of the Ituri that closed the Goma gate on 17 May 2026 |
| The Rwanda asylum plan | The Migration and Economic Development Partnership of 14 April 2022 between Britain and Rwanda to fly the asylum seekers of the Channel to Kigali — the £290 million paid for the Hope Hostel and the readiness, the flights grounded by the European court in June 2022 and the plan struck by the UK Supreme Court on 15 November 2023 for Rwanda's unsafety, the treaty and the Safety of Rwanda Act of 2024 that declared it safe, the four volunteers flown, the plan scrapped by Starmer on 6 July 2024 as "dead and buried," the "no refund" of Kigali; the claim of £50 million and then £60 million Rwanda filed at the Permanent Court of Arbitration on 27 January 2026 for the "improper termination" and lost on 1 June 2026; the American deportees of 2025, the seven arrived in August 2025 and the 250 agreed at US$7.5 million, the "third country" of the Trump removals; the Danish and the Israeli plans of before |
| Legal system | A mixture — the civil law of the Belgian and the German codes, the common law of the Commonwealth turn of 2009, the customary law of the hills and the gacaca; the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court of the chamber for the international crimes that tries the génocidaires extradited from the Netherlands, Canada and the United States, the commercial courts, the abunzi mediators of every cell; the death penalty abolished 25 July 2007 to allow the extraditions, the life imprisonment "with special provisions" of the solitary; the "genocide ideology" and "divisionism" laws of 2008 and 2018 of the 25 years the critics call the gag, the media law, the "Rwiza" case of Ingabire arrested on 19 June 2025 and the YouTubers of the Karasira kind dead on 7 May 2026 as he was released after the five years; the Rusesabagina of 2020–23 lured, tried and freed; the homosexuality legal and the marriage not; the abortion of 2018 widened; the "Doing Business" of the second in Africa; the corruption rank of the cleanest of the region |
| Local government | 5 provinces with the governors of the president's appointment and the City of Kigali of the mayor; 30 districts with the councils elected and the mayors chosen by them, the imihigo performance contracts signed before the president each year and the mayors dismissed for the failures; the sectors, the cells and the villages of the umudugudu chief, the "ten-household" leaders of the Nyumbakumi; the local elections of the district councils of 2021 and 2026–27; the Umuganda of the last Saturday, the community work the police enforce; the Girinka "one cow per poor family" and the "Bye Bye Nyakatsi" of the thatched roofs replaced |
| Defense | The Rwanda Defence Force of about 33,000 with the reserve, the army of the RPF of 1994 professionalized, the "most effective of Africa" of the peacekeeping deployments of Darfur, the Central African Republic and Mozambique's Cabo Delgado since July 2021 against the insurgents at Total's gas fields, the second-largest contributor to the UN missions per head; the special forces of the Congo of the UN's count of 3,000 to 4,000 and the artillery of the Goma hills, the "defensive measures" Kigali admits and the "no troops" it denied; the Chief of Defence Staff General Mubarakh Muganga, the RDF and its senior officers sanctioned by the United States on 2 March 2026, the assets frozen and the transactions barred; the defense spending of about 2% of GDP and the aid of the American military financing waived and cut; the Israeli, the Turkish drones, the Chinese arms; the conscription none, the "Ingando" solidarity camps of the youth; the intelligence of the NISS of the exiles' fear; the Rusizi and the Kivu of the front; the Ebola gate |
| Foreign policy | The Congo of the war and the "root cause"; the United States of the largest donor of US$174 million of 2025, the Washington Accords of Trump's "peace" and the minerals, the sanctions of 2026 on the army, the deportees of the third country; Britain of the asylum plan's money and the aid suspended, the Commonwealth of 2009 and the summit of Kigali of June 2022; Belgium of the colony and the diplomats expelled in March 2025, "the colonial mindset"; France of the Turquoise and the "responsibility" of Macron's 2021, the memorial of Paris of June 2026, the Francophonie's Louise Mushikiwabo; the European Union of the minerals memorandum of 2024 the Congolese denounced and of the sanctions; Qatar of the airport, the airline and the mediation of Doha; Russia of the nuclear agreement of 19 May 2026 of the Rosatom small reactor of the "shifting power balance"; China of the roads and the stadium; the East African Community of 2007 and the border quarrels, Uganda's Museveni of the reconciliation of 2022, Burundi's Ndayishimiye of the accusations, Tanzania of the corridor; the African Union of the 2018 chair and the reform; the peacekeepers of Mozambique and the Central African Republic; the "Visit Rwanda" of the soft power |
| United Nations | Member since 18 September 1962; the Security Council seats of 1994–95, the year the Rwandan government of the genocide sat on the Council, and 2013–14; the UNAMIR of Dallaire and the withdrawal of April 1994, the "failure" of the UN's own inquiry of 1999 and Annan's apology; the ICTR of Arusha of 1994–2015; the peacekeepers of the fifth-largest contributor, the 6,000 of Darfur, the Central African Republic and South Sudan; the UN group of experts on the Congo of the reports of the Rwandan troops and the minerals Kigali rejects; the UNESCO of the two sites of 2023 |
| Other memberships | The African Union (1963 as the OAU), the chair of 2018; the East African Community (2007); the Commonwealth (2009), the second member without a British past, the summit of 2022; the Francophonie; the Economic Community of Central African States (1983, withdrawn 2007, rejoined 2016); the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa; the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region; the African Continental Free Trade Area signed at Kigali on 21 March 2018; the WTO (1996); the Non-Aligned Movement; the Basketball Africa League's home |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$14.5 billion (2025, IMF) |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita | About US$1,050 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$3,600 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 8.9% in 2024, about 7.5% in 2025 and about 7% expected in 2026, among the fastest of Africa and of the world for the two decades of the "Rwandan miracle" of the 7 to 8% a year since 2000, the services, the construction and the tourism the engines and the aid the fuel; inflation about 5%; the franc at 1,450 and sliding; the public debt of about 75% of GDP of the borrowing for the airport, the conference center and the stadium, the IMF's programs; the poverty of 27% by the count of 2024 from 60% in 2000; the unemployment of 15% and the underemployment of the hills; the aid of 30 to 40% of the budget the sanctions and the suspensions of 2025–26 squeeze, the World Bank portfolio of US$3.37 billion, "among the highest per capita recipients" |
| Economy by sector | Services about 48%, the state, the trade, the transport, the finance and the tourism; industry about 21%, the construction, the mining, the food, the textiles and the "Made in Rwanda"; agriculture about 25% and 60% of the workers, the tea, the coffee, the bananas, the beans, the potatoes and the cassava of the two harvests |
| Currency | Rwandan franc (RWF) |
| Minerals and the trade | Gold, the largest export by value in the 2020s, US$1 billion and more a year of the refinery of Kigali of the Gasabo of the gold the UN, the Americans and the Congolese say comes across the lake from the Congo's artisanal mines, the refinery sanctioned by Washington on 26 June 2026; the "3T" of tin, tungsten and tantalum, the country the largest exporter of tantalum of the world by the trade figures and the second of tungsten, the Rutongo and the Nyakabingo of the own mines and the Rubaya and Bisie of the Congo's that the UN group of experts traces through the border, the "conflict minerals" of the Dodd-Frank of 2010 and the iTSCi tags, the European memorandum of 2024 the Congo called "blood minerals"; exports of about US$3.5 billion with the re-exports, the tea of the second-largest earner of the own soil, the Bourbon coffee of the specialty cups, the flowers, the dairy; the imports of US$5 billion of the fuel, the machinery, the food and the vehicles, from China, India, Kenya, Tanzania and the Emirates; the deficit the aid and the remittances cover; the AfCFTA of Kigali |
| Tourism and the gorillas | The tourism of US$650 million of 2024 and the 1.5 million visitors of the target, the largest earner of the foreign exchange before the pandemic — the mountain gorillas of the Volcanoes at US$1,500 a permit, the Kwita Izina of the naming, Dian Fossey's grave; the Akagera of the safaris; the Nyungwe of the chimpanzees and the canopy walk; the Kivu Belt of the resorts; the Kigali of the memorial, the conferences of the Convention Centre of the 2016 African Union summit and the CHOGM of 2022, the "MICE" of the meetings; the "Visit Rwanda" of Arsenal, PSG, Bayern and Atlético of US$40 million a year; the Bugesera airport building for 2028 with Qatar Airways' 60%; the World Championships of 2025 of the 1.5 million on the roadside; the "Rwanda is safe" of the marketing and the "Ebola" of the border |
| Farming and the hills | The coffee of the Bourbon arabica of the 400,000 smallholders of the hills, the washing stations of the specialty grade that Starbucks and the Europeans buy, the 20,000 tons; the tea of the Gisovu, Mulindi and Pfunda estates of the highest grown of Africa, the 35,000 tons of the second earner; the bananas of the beer and the food of every hill, the beans, the sweet potatoes, the cassava, the maize and the sorghum of the two seasons, the Irish potatoes of the volcanoes' soil, the rice of the drained marshes; the "Crop Intensification Program" of the monocultures the peasants resent; the Girinka cows and the milk; the pyrethrum of the insecticide; the land of the 0.7 hectares a family and the terraces; the fertilizer of the Rusizi; the flowers of the Bella |
| Industry, the state and the "miracle" | The Kigali of the state's plans — the Kigali Innovation City of the Carnegie Mellon Africa, the Kigali International Financial Centre of 2020 of the offshore ambition, the Special Economic Zone of the Volkswagen assembly of 2018, the Zipline drones of the blood deliveries since October 2016, the first commercial drone service of the world, the BioNTech vaccine plant of 2023; the Bralirwa beer of Heineken, the Inyange of the milk, the Cimerwa of the cement, the Utexrwa of the textiles, the Bank of Kigali, the MTN and Airtel of the mobile money of the 80%; the Crystal Ventures of the RPF's holding of the companies the critics count; the "Made in Rwanda" of the import bans on the used clothes of 2016 that cost the AGOA; the Kigali of the construction of the Chinese and the Turkish; the peat power of the Hakan; the methane of KivuWatt; the "Vision 2050" of the upper-middle income of 2035 and the high of 2050 |
| Public finances | Public debt about 75% of GDP, the concessional of the World Bank and the African Development Bank and the Eurobonds of 2013 and 2021; the budget of about 7 trillion francs of which a third from the donors; the deficit of about 6%; the IMF programs of the "Policy Coordination Instrument" and the resilience facility; the tax of 16% of GDP of the Rwanda Revenue Authority of the electronic billing; the aid of the United States, the World Bank, the European Union, Britain and Belgium, the last three suspended or cut in 2025–26 over the Congo; the "Agaciro" fund of the dignity of the citizens' contributions; the sovereign wealth of the small |
| Income classification | Low income (World Bank) |
Transport & infrastructure
| Airports | Kigali International Airport at Kanombe, about 1.3 million passengers, the hub of RwandAir, the terminal of the 1980s stretched; the Bugesera International Airport 25 km south of the capital building since 2017, delayed and enlarged, the US$2 billion airport of the eight million passengers for 2028 with Qatar Airways' 60% stake; the Kamembe of Cyangugu across from Bukavu, the Gisenyi airstrip; the helicopters of the Akagera Aviation |
|---|---|
| Airline | RwandAir, the state carrier of 2002 of the Rwandair Express of the Alliance days, the 14 aircraft of the Airbus A330s, the 737s and the CRJs to the 30 cities of Africa, to Brussels, Paris, London, Dubai, Doha, Mumbai and Guangzhou, the "Visit Rwanda" livery, the 49% Qatar Airways was to take of the airline and the 60% of the airport, the losses the state covers; the Kigali of the connections the sanctions did not touch |
| Ports | None — landlocked; the Northern Corridor of 1,700 km to Mombasa through Uganda and the Central Corridor of 1,400 km to Dar es Salaam through Tanzania, the trucks of the two weeks; the Kivu ports of Gisenyi, Kibuye and Cyangugu of the boats and the ferries of the Kivu Belt; the dry ports of Kigali and Rusumo; the Kivu of the "Kivu Queen" cruise |
| Railways | None — the standard-gauge railway of the plans from Isaka in Tanzania to Kigali of 521 km on the Central Corridor of the Dar es Salaam line, the studies of a decade and the US$2.5 billion of the financing sought, the Tanzanian section to Isaka built; the Kampala–Kigali of the Northern Corridor of the Chinese plans dropped; the Kigali Bus Rapid Transit of the plans; the country of the buses and the motos |
| Roads | About 4,700 km (2,900 mi) classified, about 1,200 paved and among the best of the region — the Kigali–Gatuna to Uganda, the Kigali–Rusumo to Tanzania, the Kigali–Gisenyi and the Kigali–Cyangugu of the west, the Kigali–Butare–Burundi of the south, the Kivu Belt of the lake shore built with the Chinese, the ring roads of the capital; the driving on the right; the motorcycle taxis, the "motos," of the 50,000 of Kigali with the helmets of the law, the Volkswagen "Move" and the Yego taxis, the electric motos of Ampersand; the "car-free days" of the capital of the first and third Sundays; the road deaths of 700 a year; the roads to every hill of the "feeder roads" program |
| The hills and the lakes | The Volcanoes of the gorilla treks from Musanze and the Karisoke; the Nyungwe canopy walk; the Akagera game drives; the Kivu boats of Gisenyi and the Napoleon island; the Congo–Nile trail of the ten days on foot along the lake; the Kigali of the memorial and the Nyamirambo; the King's Palace of Nyanza and the Inyambo; the Rusumo falls; the Ethnographic Museum of Huye; the Tour du Rwanda's Wall of Kigali |
History in dates
| c. 1000 BC | The Bantu farmers among the Twa |
|---|---|
| c. 1500 | The Nyiginya kingdom — Ruganzu Ndori |
| 1853 | Rwabugiri, the expander, to 1895 |
| 1894 | The first European, von Götzen |
| 1899 | German East Africa |
| 1916 | The Belgians; the mandate, 1922 |
| 1933 | The ethnic identity cards |
| 1959 | The "Hutu revolution," November — the Tutsi flee |
| 1961 | The monarchy abolished, 25 September |
| 1962 | Independence, 1 July — Kayibanda |
| 1973 | Habyarimana's coup, 5 July |
| 1990 | The RPF invades, 1 October |
| 1993 | The Arusha Accords, 4 August |
| 1994 | The plane shot down, 6 April; the genocide; Kigali taken, 4 July |
| 1996 | The first Congo war, October; the second, 1998 |
| 2000 | Kagame president, 22 April |
| 2001 | The new flag, 25 October; the gacaca courts |
| 2003 | The Constitution, 4 June; Kagame elected, 25 August |
| 2007 | The death penalty abolished, 25 July; the EAC |
| 2009 | The Commonwealth, 28 November; English in the schools |
| 2012 | The first M23; Goma taken, November |
| 2015 | The referendum, 18 December — the terms |
| 2017 | Kagame's 98.8%, 4 August |
| 2018 | The AfCFTA signed at Kigali, 21 March; Arsenal |
| 2020 | Rusesabagina seized, August |
| 2021 | M23 returns, November; Mozambique, July |
| 2022 | The UK deal, 14 April; the CHOGM, June |
| 2023 | The floods, 2–3 May — 130 dead; the memorials listed, September; the UK plan struck, 15 November |
| 2024 | The thirtieth Kwibuka, 7 April; the UK plan scrapped, 6 July; the 99.18%, 15 July; Marburg, September |
| 2025 | Goma, 27 January; Bukavu, 16 February; Belgium expelled, 17 March; the Washington Accords, 27 June; the World Championships, 21–28 September; the framework, 7 November; the Doha framework, 15 November; the presidents sign, 4 December |
| 2026 | The UK suit, 27 January; the Tour deaths, 22 February; the army sanctioned, 2 March; the visas, 6 March; the oversight committee, 23 April; Kabila sanctioned, 30 April; Karasira dies, 7 May; Kabuga dies, 16 May; the Goma gate closed, 17 May; the Russian deal, 19 May; the UK suit lost, 1 June; the Paris memorial, 2 June; the refinery sanctioned, 26 June |
Records & firsts
| The densest country of mainland Africa | About 540 per km² |
|---|---|
| The highest share of women in parliament | 63.8% |
| The first majority of women | 2008 |
| The first national park of Africa | The Volcanoes, 1925 |
| The only great ape whose numbers grow | The mountain gorilla |
| The remotest source of the Nile | The Rukarara |
| The first commercial drone delivery | Zipline, 2016 |
| The first plastic-bag ban | 2008 |
| The first cycling worlds in Africa | Kigali, 2025 |
| The fastest rise in life expectancy | 27 to 70 |
| The first genocide conviction | Akayesu, 1998 |
| The largest tantalum exporter | By the trade figures |
| The highest election share of the decade | 99.18% |
| The AfCFTA's birthplace | Kigali, 2018 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Rwanda?
The Republic of Rwanda — Repubulika y'u Rwanda in Kinyarwanda, République du Rwanda in French, Jamhuri ya Rwanda in Swahili, the four official languages with English — the state of the kingdom of the Nyiginya dynasty that ruled the hills from the 1500s under the mwami, the German and then Belgian territory of Ruanda-Urundi of 1899 to 1962, the republic of 1 July 1962 that the "Hutu revolution" of 1959 made, and the state the Rwandan Patriotic Front rebuilt after the genocide of 1994 in which the Hutu Power government and its militias killed 500,000 to a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu in a hundred days. The name is the land's own, "Rwanda" from the verb kwanda, to expand, the country that grew from the central hills under the kings; the people are the Banyarwanda and the language Kinyarwanda, the categories of Hutu, Tutsi and Twa struck from the identity cards and the law.
What is the capital of Rwanda?
Kigali — the town the Germans founded in 1907 on the hills at the center of the country, the capital since independence in 1962 in place of the colonial Butare, about 1.5 million people in the city of the ridges and the valleys, the cleanest capital of Africa by every visitor's account after the plastic-bag ban of 2008 and the umuganda of the last Saturday of the month when the country sweeps its streets, the Kigali Genocide Memorial of Gisozi where 250,000 are buried and a World Heritage site since 2023, the Convention Centre dome, the Kigali Arena of the Basketball Africa League, the Innovation City, the finish line of the world cycling championships of 2025, the "Singapore of Africa" of the president's design and the surveillance of the critics' account. Butare, now Huye, of the university, Gisenyi on Lake Kivu across from Goma, Ruhengeri at the foot of the volcanoes and Muhanga follow.
How big is Rwanda, and how many people live there?
About 26,338 km² (10,169 sq mi) — the size of Maryland or of Albania, one of the smallest countries of Africa — landlocked in the Great Lakes region at the heart of the continent, Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west across Lake Kivu, the "land of a thousand hills" that rise from the Kagera to the Virunga volcanoes. The census of 2022 counted 13,246,394 people and the statistics institute estimates about 14.3 million in 2026, growing at 2.3 percent a year — the most densely populated country of mainland Africa at about 540 per km², every hill terraced to the top, a nation of 84 percent Hutu, 15 percent Tutsi and 1 percent Twa by the last count that dared to count, and of Rwandans only by the law of the state that rose from the genocide of 1994.
What are the highest and lowest points of Rwanda?
Mount Karisimbi, 4,507 m (14,787 ft), the highest of the Virunga volcanoes on the Congo border, dormant, snow on its summit on the cold mornings, the "little white shell" of its name, where Dian Fossey's camp of Karisoke stood between it and Bisoke and the mountain gorillas of the Volcanoes National Park live on the bamboo; and the Rusizi river where it leaves Lake Kivu for Lake Tanganyika at the Burundi border, 950 m (3,117 ft), the whole country above the height of most of Europe's mountains and temperate for it. The thousand hills of the center rise to the Congo–Nile divide, Lake Kivu of the methane lies at 1,460 m in the Rift, the Nyungwe forest of the chimpanzees and the Rukarara stream that is the remotest source of the Nile are in the southwest, and the Akagera of the savanna and the lions is on the Tanzanian border.
What currency does Rwanda use?
The Rwandan franc (ISO code RWF, FRw), of 100 centimes never used, the currency of 1964 that replaced the Rwanda and Burundi franc of the Belgian union, issued by the National Bank of Rwanda, about 1,450 to the U.S. dollar in 2026 on a slow slide of the decade, the notes of the gorillas, the coffee pickers and the terraces; the mobile money of MTN and Airtel the money of the market. Clocks keep Central Africa Time, UTC+2, all year; Rwanda drives on the right, on the paved roads of the hills and the motorcycle taxis of the capital.
Who governs Rwanda?
President Paul Kagame, head of state since 22 April 2000 and the country's master since his Rwandan Patriotic Front took Kigali on 4 July 1994 and ended the genocide, re-elected on 15 July 2024 with 99.18 percent of the vote against two candidates permitted and two barred, eligible under the constitution of 2015 to serve to 2034 — the general who built the cleanest, safest and most orderly state of Africa and one of its fastest economies from the ruins, by his admirers' account, and the autocrat who tolerates no opposition, whose critics die in exile or in custody and whose army holds the east of the Congo through the M23 rebels, by his critics'; Prime Minister Justin Nsengiyumva, an economist, has headed the government since July 2024. The year of 2026 is the year of the Congo war: M23 in Goma and Bukavu since early 2025 with the Rwandan troops the UN counts, the Washington peace accords signed with Kinshasa in 2025 and unimplemented, the American sanctions of March on the Rwanda Defence Force itself for the "violation," and the withdrawal that has not come. There is no election until 2029.
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