By Ramesh Kumar
Returning home to the tents as the evening sky was illumined with the red glare of the sun, my attention was attracted by observing in the distance some bold sky-scraping cones situated in the country Ruanda, which at once brought back to recollection the ill-defined story I had heard from the Arabs of a wonderful hill always covered with clouds, on which snow or hail was constantly falling. This was a valuable discovery, for I found these hills to be the great turn-point of the Central African watershed.

- John Hanning Speke,
The Discovery of the Source of Nile

THAT'S HOW the first European to visit Rwanda gave vent to his feelings on glimpsing the Central African nation. The year: Circa 1858. Ideally the Arab traders, familiar with the territory, should have walked away with this glory. What kept them away was the "mysterious kingdom" tag pinned on Rwanda.

Thanks to Speke, there is a freak but historic Indian linkage: he served the British Indian Army in 1844, participating in its Punjab campaign before joining the legendary lieutenant Richard Burton's expedition in 1856 to search for the reported great lakes in east Central Africa. Germans and Belgians came later and ruled the small, densely populated, landlocked Rwanda before it attained independence from colonial rule in 1962. Simultaneously monarchical government gave way to parliamentary style of governance.

Ethnic conflicts between the minority Tutsis and the majority Hutus engulfed the country for decades, triggering displacement of Tutsis to neighbouring countries. Exiled Tutsis, opposing the then prevalent ban on the return of exiles back into Rwanda, regrouped to fight the government in 1990. Normalcy was restored due to international community intervention but the peace was short-lived with extremist Hutus going on the offensive again - resulting in the 1994 genocide claiming close to a million lives. A quick reprisal from the Tutsis saw the ouster of Hutu-dominated government and another mass exodus. More than 2,000,000 Hutus fled Rwanda into refugee camps in neighbouring countries, mostly to Zaire, now renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

New Beginnings

Soon a transitional government came into existence, formed along the lines of the Arusha Accords and a National Assembly of the Transition was established, comprising of representatives of all the political parties in the government. In 2000, Paul Kagame - until then holding the post of vice presidency - took charge as President of Republic of Rwanda, thus heralding a new chapter.

After the installation of the new government, about 800,000 exiles returned to Rwanda and from November 1996, more than two million refugees returned to Rwanda from neighbouring countries viz., Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) and Tanzania. However, a sizeable chunk of militia that perpetrated the 1994 genocide continue to remain in DR Congo and fighting with Rwanda without respite. "Our relationship with Congo in the west is under rough weather," admits Rwandan Foreign Minister Dr Charles Murigande, during his recent visit to India. (See Interview).

World Bank is fully appreciative of Rwandan government's attempts of reconciliation and reconstruction. "On the political front, the government has successfully managed the aftermath of the genocide…. A countrywide dialogue on national unity has been launched. Local elections were held in March 1999 and again in March 2001 and decentralization is ongoing. A new constitution is being drafted and national elections are planned for 2003," declares a World Bank report.

Under the dynamic leadership of Kagame, "the economy rebounded, growing by 70 per cent between 1994 and 1997," adds the Bank in the same dispatch. According to the Bank, in the following years, growth remained relatively high - between six and nine per cent. In the post-1994 era, growth was led by manufacturing, commerce and services. Since 1998, agriculture, constituting 42 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and construction have been the main growth drivers of the Rwandan economy.

General price level was brought under control successfully after the Genocide, hovering around 4 per cent in 2000. Deft macro economic management helped Rwanda reached its Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative Decision Point in December 2000. Consequently, the substantial external debt burden - $1.2 billion or 63 per cent of GDP) - came tumbling down. The introduction of VAT in January 2001 helped the revenue generation marginally. It moved into double digits - 11.4 per cent of GDP in 2001.

Reforming Mould

Rwanda began to reform its economy in 1995. The reforms have focused on the exchange and trade regime, the privatization of state enterprises, the reform of public administration, the budget and financial management, and private sector development. Rwanda completed its Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper last June. This will help to focus public interventions on poverty reduction, with priority on rural development and agricultural transformation. Other priorities for public actions include governance, human development, economic infrastructure, private sector development and institutional capacity building. The Poverty Reduction Programme aims at a real GDP growth rate of 6-7 per cent per annum, which will help Rwanda to reduce poverty from 60 per cent of households in 2001 to 30 per cent in 2015 and meet the other Millennium Development Goals.

While poverty reduction is one of the laudable objects, President Kagame also has other goals in sight. Utilising the then World Bank President James Wolfensohn's presence in Rwandan capital Kigali last July, Kagame invited him to address the National Assembly. Welcoming Wolfensohn, the Rwandan ruler underscored the importance of "other issues that have to be looked at in terms of peace and security, good governance, including importantly trade and investment." Praising Kagame for his participation in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) currently underway in sub-Saharan Africa, Wolfensohn stated that Rwanda's own assertion was a step in the right direction for the landlocked country with 8.1 million people "anxious to ensure hope and destiny".

On the reconstruction front, World Bank itself is engaged in $800 million worth of projects. Rwanda is currently receiving interim assistance from IDA, the IMF, the African Development Bank and the Paris Club. International Finance Corporation (IFC) is ready to support viable investments in Rwanda. Since February 2001, IFC has conducted three visits in Rwanda focusing on privatization, small and medium enterprises, financial and industrial sector. Much before that, July 2000 to be precise, MIGA's staff visited Kigali to discuss full membership and associated benefits with the authorities.

Eternal Optimism

Rwandans, it appears, are born optimists. Nothing deters them, not even the lukewarm response of the global community towards them in the post-1994 scenario. Things will improve, says a confident Foreign Minister Murigande. He is not off the mark. Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families, a classic on the Genocide, asks rhetorically: "How does a society reconstitute itself or constitute itself in the aftermath? Slowly, painfully and uncertainly." Why such a slow pace? It is because, "it is the real destruction that was visited on that country (Rwanda). The genocidal government and its minions sought to level that society, and succeeded in many ways - destroyed all the courthouses, made it so that when the new government came in they did not have pencils, paper, chairs to sit in, much less lawyers or judges, because they had all killed or been killed. It's a very bleak prospect and part of what's fascinating about it is watching the effort to build from virtually zero." Rwanda is rising, like the legendary Phoenix.

With President Kagame in the saddle, future is not bleak. For one, he is no push-over. The simple logic is: Kagame fled his homeland - Rwanda - at the tender age of three and returned 30 years later. Unlike the traditional African rulers known for their flamboyance, the fortyish, tennis-loving warrior from the land of mountain gorillas is of ascetic temperament, incorruptible, teetotaler and above all, a strong disciplinarian. Added to this deadly concoction is his dry public speaking and low key presence. Simply put, a performance-oriented ruler. What more can an impoverished and war-ravaged Rwanda ask for at this juncture?