Rwanda: The story Of A Genocide, Gorillas, Gender And Growth

Rwanda is a small landlocked country in Africa with a population of about 14 million and is the most densely populated country of the continent. Any mention of Rwanda brings to mind the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 in which over a million people, mostly Tutsi, were killed in a hundred days, an average of over 30,000 people every day. The incident was used as a backdrop to the 2004 popular film ‘Hotel Rwanda’, which brought the world’s spotlight on the genocide that had hitherto taken place in ‘some far away country in Africa’. The storyline is based on a true happening in Hotel Mille Collines (Thousand Hills in French) where over 1300 refugees found shelter and were saved from the massacre during the days of the genocide. The hotel is functional even today and is one of the most visited spots for visitors to Kigali.

Rwanda is also home to the endangered mountain gorillas. About 60% of the population of this endangered species is found in the “Virunga Mountains” in Northern Rwanda, a chain of Volcanoes that Rwanda shares with Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. It was the place for the critically acclaimed 1998 docudrama “Gorillas in the Mist”, starring Sigourney Weaver. The film tells the story of naturalist and primatologist Dian Fossey, who studied the mountain gorillas extensively and then fought to protect them from poaching and imminent extinction. She was found murdered in her cabin in December 1985 and was buried nearby in the site that she had herself built for burying poached gorillas. The last entry she had made in her diary before her murder read “When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future”.

However it is the horrific tales and numbers of the genocide that still resonate whenever Rwanda is mentioned. Such was the scale of the tragedy that the UN has designated 7th April every year as the ‘International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda’. The 30th commemoration of the genocide was observed in Kigali on 7th April 2024, known as Kwibuka 30. Several world leaders attended the event and Government of India was represented at the level of Secretary. India also lit up the Qutub Minar on 7th April in the colors of Rwanda to observe the day as a mark of respect for those who lost their lives in the horrific genocidal violence of 1994. India had also been associated with peace keeping in Rwanda under the UNAMIR (UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda) where a total of 956 Indian peace keepers took part and some sacrificed their lives in the line of duty. There is realization and respect for this in Kigali even today.

The macabre dance of death and destruction that was unleashed in Rwanda in 1994, was followed up with serious efforts at tribal unity, political stability and nation building. This conscious effort by the Government of Rwanda and its people put the country on the path of economic and social progress. Rwanda is now among the fastest growing economies of Africa and a hot destination for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism and hosts several events in the Kigali Convention Centre. Tourism is now the country’s largest foreign exchange earner, with MICE contributing over one-fifth of the total. The country is also among the cleanest in the world. It banned plastic bags in 2008 and has clean trash free streets. This is also ensured by the compulsory community service that all Rwandans have to do on the last Saturday of every month, known as Umuganda. Participation in Umuganda is required by law for all Rwandans between the age of 18 to 65 in which people clean streets, plant trees, build schools and community buildings among other activities.

Rwanda was also in news recently because of UK’s new policy for asylum seekers. Under the policy, UK was to transfer all asylum seekers to Rwanda till their cases were adjudicated and they could then be granted refugee status in Rwanda. Rwanda was to get about $465 million over the next 5 years for this having already received $300 Million by the end of 2023. The policy however was struck down by the UK supreme court in November 2023 and completely reversed by the new Government of UK in July 2024. In any case, no asylum seeker was ever sent from UK to Rwanda but the question of money already paid to Rwanda stays under discussion between the two countries.

Rwanda witnessed Presidential and Parliamentary elections in July 2024. President Paul Kagame won 99.18% of the votes and got a fourth consecutive term. However what is more striking and less known is that Rwanda has the highest percentage of women in the parliament in the world. The new Parliament elected in July 2024, has 63.75% women members. The percentage was 61% in then last parliament. The country aspires to become a Middle-Income Country by 2035 and a High-Income Country by 2050 and the President has expressed to make it the "Singapore of Africa". It is expected to feature in the world’s top 10 highest growing economies in 2024.

The 2003 constitution of Rwanda set a quota for 30% for women in elected positions. Globally, the average for women in parliament is around 24 percent. While a part of the answer lies in the constitution that mandates a gender quota, the fact also stays that at the end of the genocide, women outnumbered men. Rwanda’s four-tiered political system also helped and proved to be an effective leadership development scheme. With 30 percent of elected seats reserved for women, the council system fed those from lower levels into the higher reserved positions including to the Parliament. With increasing number of politically experienced women available at every level, it has led to women contesting against men in non-reserved positions, and winning.

Despite the shocks that it bore, today Rwanda is a living example of how unity and a sense of purpose can bring change at a very fast pace. The memory of those who were killed is preserved and kept alive by the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where the remains of over 250,000 people are buried. PM Modi visited the memorial in July 2018 and in his message praised Rwanda’s response to the genocide as one of ‘restraint, reconciliation and peace’ that has made the country into a beacon of stability, growth and development.

(Puneet Kundal is an IFS officer, Additional Secretary, the Ministry of External Affairs.)

(Views expressed are personal.)