FOREIGN
RELATIONS
Rwanda is an active member of the international community and has remained in the international spotlight since the genocide. Rwanda is an active member of the UN, having presided over the Security Council during part of 1995. The UN assistance mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR), a UN Chapter Six peacekeeping operation, involved personnel from more than a dozen countries. Most of the UN development and humanitarian agencies have had a large presence in Rwanda. At the height of the humanitarian emergency, more than 200 nongovernmental organizations were carrying out humanitarian operations. In addition to receiving assistance from the international community, Rwanda has also contributed to international peacekeeping missions. Currently, Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) has four 800-strong battalions deployed in support of the UNAMID Mission in Darfur and one battalion in UNMIS (southern Sudan). As of January 2009, Rwanda was training its 18th peacekeeping battalion since 2006.
Several west European and African nations, including Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, the United Kingdom, Libya, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, the Holy See, and the European Union maintain diplomatic missions in Kigali.
In 1998, Rwanda, along with Uganda, invaded the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.) to back Congolese rebels trying to overthrow then-President Laurent Kabila. Rwandan troops pulled out of the D.R.C. in October 2002, in accordance with the Lusaka cease-fire agreement. In December 2008, after months of bilateral discussions, Rwanda and the D.R.C. announced a joint military operation against a root cause of instability in the Great Lakes Region--the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda). As of January 2009, Rwandan forces had entered the Congo and begun joint operations with the Congolese armed forces, the FARDC, against the FDLR. The two nations’ forces also cooperated in reintegrating renegade general Laurent Nkunda’s CNDP rebel force into the FARDC; Nkunda was detained by Rwandan authorities.
In the fall of 2006, Rwanda broke diplomatic relations with France, following a
French judge's indictment of senior Rwandan officials on charges of having
participated in the shooting down of the presidential jet in 1994. Rwanda
rejects these charges. Following her November 2008 arrest in Germany and
transfer to France, Chief of Presidential Protocol Rose Kabuye, one of those so
charged, began her defense in a Paris court in January 2009. Rwanda, along with
Burundi, joined the East African Community in 2007.
U.S.-RWANDAN
RELATIONS
U.S. Government interests have shifted significantly since the 1994 genocide from a strictly humanitarian concern focusing on stability and security to a strong partnership with the Government of Rwanda focusing on sustainable development. The largest U.S. Government programs are the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President's Malaria Initiative, which aim to reduce the impact of these debilitating diseases in Rwanda. Other activities promote rural economic growth and support good governance and decentralization. Overall U.S. foreign assistance to Rwanda has increased four-fold over the past four years.
A major focus of bilateral relations is the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) program. In support of the overall Government of Rwanda development plan, USAID aims to improve the health and livelihoods of Rwandans and increase economic and political development. To achieve this, USAID activities focus on:
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Prevention, treatment and care of HIV/AIDS; Reducing mortality and morbidity due to malaria;
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Increasing access to, and use of, voluntary family planning methods;
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Improving maternal and child health;
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Promoting rural economic growth through specialty coffee, dairy, and eco-tourism;
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Encouraging participatory governance and decentralization in 12 target districts;
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Promoting a democratic Rwanda, where the government respects human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law; and
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Providing food aid to the most vulnerable populations.
In September 2008, Rwanda signed a Threshold Country Plan (TCP) agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). The TCP is implemented by USAID and focuses on strengthening the justice sector and the press, promoting civic participation, and political rights and civil liberties.
The State Department's Public Affairs section maintains a cultural center in Kigali, which offers public access to English-language publications and information on the United States.
American business interests have been small; currently, private U.S. investment is limited to the tea industry, franchising (FedEx, Coca-Cola, Western Union, and Moneygram) and small holdings in service and manufacturing concerns. Annual U.S. exports to Rwanda, under $10 million annually from 1990-93, exceeded $40 million in 1994 and 1995. Although exports decreased in the years immediately after the genocide, in 2007 they were estimated at approximately $17 million, a 20% increase over 2006.
DEFENSE
The military establishment is comprised of a well-trained army and a small,
rotary-wing air force. Defense spending continues to represent a
disproportionate share of the national budget, largely due to continuing
security problems along the frontiers with the Democratic Republic of the Congo
and Burundi in the aftermath of the war. Following withdrawal of Rwandan Armed
Forces from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in October 2002, the government
completely restructured the military and launched an ambitious plan to
demobilize thousands of soldiers. At end state, Rwanda will have a small,
well-equipped army of 25,000 soldiers.
Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--W. Stuart Symington
Deputy Chief of Mission--Cheryl Sim
Director USAID Program--George Lewis
The U.S. Embassy is located on Boulevard de la Revolution, P.O. Box 28, Kigali (tel. 250-505-601/2/3; fax 250-572-128).
