les 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.

Saint Barthelemy
Discovered in 1493 by Christopher COLUMBUS who
named it for his brother Bartolomeo, St. Barthelemy was first
settled by the French in 1648. In 1784, the French sold the island
to Sweden, who renamed the largest town Gustavia, after the Swedish
King GUSTAV III, and made it a free port; the island prospered as a
trade and supply center during the colonial wars of the 18th
century. France repurchased the island in 1878 and placed it under
the administration of Guadeloupe. St. Barthelemy retained its free
port status along with various Swedish appelations such as Swedish
street and town names, and the three-crown symbol on the coat of
arms. In 2003, the populace of the island voted to secede from
Guadeloupe and in 2007, the island became a French overseas
collectivity.

Saint Helena
Saint Helena is a British Overseas Territory consisting
of Saint Helena and Ascension Islands, and the island group of
Tristan da Cunha.
Saint Helena: Uninhabited when first