Rwanda

Kigali (Kinyarwanda: [ciɡɑlí]), with a population of more than 1 million (2012), is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is situated near the geographic centre of the nation. The city has been the economic, cultural, and transport hub of Rwanda since it became capital at independence in 1962. The main residence and offices of thePresident of Rwanda are located in the city, as are the government ministries.
- Kigali was founded in 1907 by Dr. Richard Kandt under German colonial rule, but did not become the capital until Rwandan independence in 1962. The traditional capital was the seat of the mwami (Kings Yuhi V, Mutara III and Kigeli IV) in Nyanza, while the colonial seat of power was in Butare, then known as Astrida. Butare was initially the leading contender to be the capital of the new independent nation, but Kigali was chosen because of its more central location. Since then the city has grown very quickly and is now the major political, economic and cultural centre of Rwanda. Beginning on April 6, 1994, Kigali was the scene of the Rwandan Genocide – the slaughter of approximately one million Tutsi by Hutu militias (Interahamwe), and some members of the Rwandan army. There was fierce fighting between the army (mostly Hutu) and Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front. Although damaged, the city's structure has recovered.
- One of Rwanda’s most prosperous businessmen and proprietor of a company that manufactures Rwanda Foam mattresses Makuza Bertin has passed on. He died midnight last night. IGIHE has learnt that the deceased was in good shape yesterday morning but felt dazed as he was being driven to work. He was then rushed to King Faisal Hospital for medical test where doctors diagnosed him and realized that some small nerves had got broken. Makuza Bertin was one of Rwanda’s prosperous businessmen with a stakes in Rwanda Foam, Rwanda’s mattress manufacturer of 30 years. He is also the owner of Rwanda’s new architectural marvel, M Peace Plaza which was constructed at a cost of USD 40 million.


people
- tutsi

• Paul Kagame (/kəˈɡɑːmeɪ/; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military leader. He is currently the President of Rwanda, having taken office in 2000 when his predecessor, Pasteur Bizimungu, resigned. Kagame previously commanded the rebel force that ended the 1994 Rwandan genocide. He was considered Rwanda's de facto leader when he served as Vice President and Minister of Defence from 1994 to 2000. He was re-elected in August 2017 with an official result of nearly 99% in an election criticized for numerous irregularities.^[2][3] He has been described as the "most impressive" and "among the most repressive" African leaders.Kagame was born on 23 October 1957, the youngest of six children,^[8] in Tambwe, Ruanda-Urundi, a village located in what is now the Southern Province of Rwanda.^[9] His father, Deogratias, was a member of the Tutsi ethnic group, from which the royal family had been derived since the eighteenth century or earlier.^[10] Deogratias had family ties to King Mutara III, but he pursued an independent business career rather than maintain a close connection to the royal court.^[8] Kagame's mother, Asteria Rutagambwa, descended from the family of the last Rwandan queen, Rosalie Gicanda.^[8] At the time of Kagame's birth, Rwanda was a United Nations Trust Territory; long-time colonial power Belgium still ruled the territory, but with a mandate to oversee independence.^[11][12] Rwandans were made up of three distinct groups: the minority Tutsi were the traditional ruling class, and the Belgians had long promoted their supremacy,^[13] while the majority Hutu were agriculturalists.^[14] The third group, the Twa, were a forest-dwelling pygmy people descended from Rwanda's earliest inhabitants, who formed less than 1% of the population.

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Industry

- telecom

• economist 30may2020 "dial it up" mobile transactions have risen fivefold in rwanda's covid-19 lockdown

- health insurance

• http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21707226-how-poor-country-brought-health-insurance-91-population-african

language
- https://www.quora.com/In-what-international-language-are-young-Rwandans-being-educated-I-understand-that-it-used-to-be-French-but-that-Rwanda-has-switched-or-is-switching-to-English Rwanda switched their language of instruction from French to English in 2008. I was in the last group of students who used French as the main language. After 10 years, it is fair to say that English is more preferred in Rwanda. It has definitely taken over. English is the language of the business and technology world. We did not want to miss out on this opportunity. In schools, students still learn French though, but honestly, the language is not as cool as it used to be. Kinyarwanda and English are the main languages in Rwanda at the moment.

History
- Human occupation of Rwanda is thought to have begun shortly after the last ice age. By the 16th century, the inhabitants had organized into a number of kingdoms. In the 19th century,Mwami (king) Rwabugiri of the Kingdom of Rwanda conducted a decades-long process of military conquest and administrative consolidation that resulted in the kingdom coming to control most of what is now Rwanda. The colonial powers, Germany and Belgium, allied with the Rwandan court, allowing it to conquer the remaining autonomous kingdoms along its borders and racializing the system of minority Tutsi dominance created under Rwabugiri. A convergence of anti-colonial, and anti-Tutsi sentiment resulted in Belgium granting national independence in 1961. The current gov of Rwanda was founded in 1994. Direct elections resulted in a representative government dominated by the majority Hutu under PresidentGrégoire Kayibanda. Unsettled ethnic and political tensions were worsened when Juvénal Habyarimana, who was also Hutu, seized power in 1973. In 1991, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel group composed of 10,000 Tutsi refugees from previous decades of unrest, invaded the country, starting the Rwandan Civil War. The war ground on, worsening ethnic tensions, as the Hutu feared losing their gains. The assassination of Habyarimana was the catalyst for the eruption of the 1994 genocide, in which hundreds of thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. The Tutsi RPF conquered Rwanda, and there was a counter-genocide of Hutus by Tutsis. Millions of Hutu fled as refugees, contributing to large refugee camps of Hutu in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, where there were already refugees from other countries. These were disbanded by an RPF-sponsored invasion in 1996 that replaced the new Congolese presidentas the result of the First Congo War. A second invasion to replace the new Congolese president initiated the Second Congo War, the deadliest war since World War II and one involving many African nations including Rwanda.

China
- leaders' visit

• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-03/18/content_28598217.htm The Chinese government encourages more companies to invest in Rwanda's major infrastructure construction projects in such areas as transportation and energy, President Xi Jinping said on Friday. China and Rwanda should enhance cooperation in infrastructure construction, industrialization and agricultural modernization, Xi said while meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who is visiting China on Friday and Saturday. Xi added that China would like to support Rwanda's construction of special economic zones. China also supports Rwanda to play a bigger role in United Nations peacekeeping activities, Xi said. He added that China's policies toward Africa will not change and the steps to push forward China-Africa cooperation will not slow down. Noting that China and Rwanda have had diplomatic ties for 46 years, Xi said the two countries have understood each other and cooperated sincerely to push forward the steady development of bilateral ties.

- senior officers visit

• 13日，外交部长王毅在基加利会见卢旺达总统卡加梅后应询向媒体介绍中方对今年将在中国举行新一届中非合作论坛峰会的设想。http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20180115/PDF/a20_screen.pdf

- infrastructure

• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2015-02/09/content_19525312.htm For a long time funding of infrastructure projects has remained a key obstacle for Africancountries. And they are now trying to diversify funding sources to gain more independence andflexibility. The Rwanda Development Board says design of the new airport is complete and the governmentis seeking a private investor to help it build the airport. "We have received interest in the airport from Chinese  companies and have assessed theirinterest alongside other proposals," Akamanzi says. China has had a significant role in construction work in Rwanda, and many landmarks in Kigaliwere built by Chinese companies. Chinese companies have invested in transport network projects including roads and railways thatare being built in a drive toward regional and continental integration, which in turn is aimed atopening up markets. "Through regional integration, we are investing in strategic infrastructure projects such as theregional railway project from Mombasa in Kenya to Kigali," Akamanzi says.
• http://paper.takungpao.com/resfile/PDF/20170508/PDF/a17_screen.pdf 中國土木工程集團公司盧旺達 員工烏維法希傑．埃馬紐埃爾說 。在這名31歲的電工眼中，中土 承建的盧旺達首都基加利綜合社 區項目正在為這個 「千丘之國」 帶來新機會。目前，遠景城項目 一期工程已接近竣工。

- ecommerce

• Rwanda has become the first African nation to join the Alibaba Group Holding-led electronic world trade platform (EWTP) initiative, following similar initiatives in Southeast Asia as the Chinese e-commerce firm seeks to expand digital trade globally.https://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2171148/rwanda-joins-alibaba-led-electronic-world-trade-platform-amid-us 
• A startup hub on the fourth floor of a commercial building in Rwandan capital city Kigali is where Dioscore Shikama incubates his agritech e-commerce company. The 26-year-old set up a target to serve global farmers after participating in a training program for e-commerce business founders provided by China's e-commerce giant Alibaba in China in November 2017. Founded in 2016, AgriGo Ltd provides farmers with advisory services via mobile and allows them to keep records of farming costs through its electronic platform AgriGo. http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201811/26/WS5bfb4e70a310eff30328afca.html
•  China's e-commerce giant Alibaba will launch an undergraduate program this September to enroll students from Rwanda to facilitate the central African country's pursuit of a knowledge-based economy. The Alibaba Business School said its "International Business Cross-border eCommerce" class will enroll 30 students this year, who will spend four years in Hangzhou, where Alibaba is based, studying subjects including the Internet, international trade and cross-border e-commerce.
  The project is a key part of the agreement signed last year between the Rwandan government and Alibaba to build the Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP).
  The eWTP initiative was proposed by Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba, in 2016.http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-04/15/c_137979443.htm

- investors from China

• http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8c3b27ec-e8e1-11e4-87fe-00144feab7de.html Candy Ma, a 40-year-old Chinese industrialist, has just hired 200 trainee workers at her new government-built factory in the heart of the east African country, and this month, she invited buyers from Walmart, H&M and Tesco to inspect the facility. She plans to export 30,000 T-shirts a month — enough for an initial $10m in first-year sales — and expects to expand tenfold to 2,000 workers next year. 
• china daily 16oct18 discovering rwanda's rewards