Featuring: *Two Years of H.E. Paul Kagame after elections *Key Sector by Sector development review *Uganda exports to Rwanda Main Menu Rwanda I Rwanda II Rwanda III Rwanda IV Rwanda V Rwanda VI This presentation is designed and organised by the New Vision Internet Department. Editor Davis J. Weddi Free elections end Rwandan transition Eleven years after the genocide, peace and security have become treasured values to the Rwandans. In a referendum held on May 26, 2003, a new constitution was voted into law by a massive majority of 93% of the registered voters. Entrenched in the new fundamental law were principles of democracy and good governance, the individual freedoms including freedom of speech, unity of the state, property rights and a firm rejection of the politics of division. Following the referendum on the constitution, Presidential and Parliamentary elections were held at the end of 2003. These ushered in the first post-transition period government to lead the country into the future. The incumbent President registered a landslide victory in elections, which were highly billed as free and fair both by the local and international observers. On September 12, President Paul Kagame marked his second anniversary as a democratically-elected president of the republic of Rwanda, marking another milestone in the democratisation history of Rwanda. The democratisation dates back to 1994 when the government of national unity was set up under the terms of the Arusha Peace Accord. The accord made national unity, reconciliation, poverty eradication, good governance and human resource development benchmarks of the reconstruction programme. The current pace of development in Rwanda is closely tied with 1998 when the office of the president of the Republic of Rwanda launched a national reflection session on the future of Rwanda in Urugwiro village. This was after successful efforts in breaking the cycle of violence that had shattered the country for 50 years, culminating in the horrifying 1994 genocide. “The government of National unity felt the time had come for Rwandans to start thinking about what kind of nation they wanted in future. After extensive consultations, the government of national unity drafted a document called Vision 2020,” said Prof. Paul Manasseh Nshuti, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning. The vision is the long-term development path for Rwanda, which outlines ambitious goals to be achieved by 2020. The Vision 2020 is a framework for Rwanda’s development, presenting the key priorities and providing Rwandans with a guiding tool for the future. It supports a clear Rwandan identity, while showing ambition and imagination in overcoming poverty and divisions. The Rwanda government, partners, donors, civil society organisations and the private sector are now in the process of formulating more detailed sectoral plans to attain the goals by 2020. Information at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development reads in part, “The commitment to rapid growth is total and the international community gave a helping hand. Civil service reform, decentralisation, empowerment and participation at grassroots level and modernising the management structures of the economy were all pursued vigor-ously.” In 2001, the government adopted a novel home-grown approach to criminal justice and launched Gacaca (sitting on the grass), a community participatory procedure adapted from local tradition, where tens of thousands of the detainees are sent to their home region for their innocence or criminality to be established by their people. A new all-inclusive constitution, presidential and parliamentary elections have brought to a close of the post-1994 political transition. A third of Rwanda’s population was displaced in 1994 and a large number of the housing stock destroyed. Access to adequate shelter and land remains one of Rwanda’s most critical challenges. Widows head 34% while children head about 13% of households. Twenty-six percent of the under-14 age group are orphans. HIV/AIDS is about 12% in the 15-49 year age group, slightly above the sub-Saharan average of 8.7%.” statistics from the country’s progress Report 1997-2003 reads in part. Among the devastating consequences of the genocide was death of professionals, particularly in applied sciences, technology and management. Half of the 19,000 teachers in Rwanda were killed and a number of university professors were eliminated. Of the 800 magistrates, 40 remained in the country after the genocide, excluding the architects of the genocide, arraigned before the International Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha. There were more than 100,000 genocide suspects in detention by the close of 2002, among them many professionals, compounding the problem of lack of skills the country faces. Most of Rwanda, one of Africa’s smallest and most densely-populated countries lies 1,500 metres above sea level, giving it a cooler climate than would have been the norm for the tropics. The topography, which inspired the country’s sobriquet, “land of a thousand hills” is a succession of rolling green hills inter-spaced by gorges, valleys, fast-flowing rivers, springs, several mountain peaks and volcanic cones, marshlands and natural parks. The country came 162nd of the 173 countries in the 2002 UN Human Development Index and 158th of 175 countries in 2003, a significant improvement, as the 2001 position was 152nd of 162 countries. The 2004 report indicated an upward trend. The GDP per capital of $250 (2003) is sustained principally by the cultivation and export of coffee and tea. Lying on a total land area of 26,338km, Rwanda is home for 8.1 million people, giving a density of 305 persons per km2. Population growth is 2.9% a year, again one of the highest in the world, although the fertility rate has fallen considerably in the recent years, from 8.5% in 1983 to 6.5% in 1996. While 60% of the land is arable, it is the livelihood of over 90% of the population comprising mostly subsistence farmers. This translates into a density of nine persons per hectare of arable land – quite crowded and a source of environmental degradation. Historical highlights 1959 – generalised massacres and flight of hundreds of thousands into exile. 1962 – Independence from Belgium. 1973 – Coup de’tat by General Juvenal Habyarimana. Beginning of one-party dictatorship. 1990 – Rwanda exilees, under the banner of Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) attack from Uganda. Civil War and Military Stand-off. 1991 – Ruling MRND enacts new constitution abolishing one-party rule and legalises opposition parties. 1993 – Government and RPF sign OAU brokered Arusha Peace Accord, agreeing to share power in interim phase in preparation for multi-party elections. 1994 – Genocide; 1,000,000 Rwandans killed in 100 days. 1994 – RPF wins war. Stops genocide. Begins pacification of the country. Government of National Unity headed by President Pasteur Bizimungu formed under the provisions of Arusha Accord of 1993. Era of reconstruction and all-inclusive national unity begins. 1996 – Genocide trials begin in Rwanda – distinct from the UN trials in Arusha. 1999 – first local government elections. 2002 – Launch of Gacaca – traditional participatory justice process for more than 100,000 genocide detainees in Rwanda. 2003 (May) – Adoption of new constitution. 2003 (August) – Presidential Elections, where President Paul Kagame won in landslide victory. 2003 (Sept) – Parliamentary and Senate elections. End of post genocide political transition. Consolidation of a new era. Unprecedented prospects for a brighter future.