50,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries. The children of
these exiles later formed a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front
(RPF), and began a civil war in 1990. The war, along with several
political and economic upheavals, exacerbated ethnic tensions,
culminating in April 1994 in the genocide of roughly 800,000 Tutsis
and moderate Hutus. The Tutsi rebels defeated the Hutu regime and
ended the killing in July 1994, but approximately 2 million Hutu
refugees - many fearing Tutsi retribution - fled to neighboring
Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire. Since then, most of the
refugees have returned to Rwanda, but several thousand remained in
the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC; the former
Zaire) and formed an extremist insurgency bent on retaking Rwanda,
much as the RPF tried in 1990. Despite substantial international
assistance and political reforms - including Rwanda's first local
elections in March 1999 and its first post-genocide presidential and
legislative elections in August and September 2003 - the country
continues to struggle to boost investment and agricultural output,
and ethnic reconciliation is complicated by the real and perceived
Tutsi political dominance. Kigali's increasing centralization and
intolerance of dissent, the nagging Hutu extremist insurgency across
the border, and Rwandan involvement in two wars in recent years in
the neighboring DRC continue to hinder Rwanda's efforts to escape
its bloody legacy.

Geography
Rwanda

Location:

Central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of the Congo

Geographic coordinates:

2 00 S, 30 00 E

Map references:

Africa

Area:

total: 26,338 sq km
land: 24,948 sq km
water: 1,390 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly smaller than Maryland

Land boundaries:

total: 893 km
border countries: Burundi 290 km, Democratic Republic of the Congo
217 km, Tanzania 217 km, Uganda 169 km

Coastline:

0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims:

none (landlocked)

Climate:

temperate; two rainy seasons (February to April, November to
January); mild in mountains with frost and snow possible

Terrain:

mostly grassy uplands and hills; relief is mountainous with altitude
declining from west to east

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Rusizi River 950 m
highest point: Volcan Karisimbi 4,519 m

Natural resources:

gold, cassiterite (tin ore), wolframite (tungsten ore), methane,
hydropower, arabl