Rwanda is a country of 10 million people. The capital city is Kigali. Rwandans are divided across two main ethnic groups: the Hutu and the Tutsi - the two groups are most starkly divided across political and economic lines. Rwanda achieved independence in 1962 with a Hutu government led by Grégoire Kayibanda. Ethnic conflict continued, and thousands of people died. Kayibanda was overthrown in 1973 by Hutu army chief General Juvénal Habyarimana; massacres of both Hutu and Tutsi followed. By 1990 more than 600,000 Tutsi fled to exile. Habyarimana led a one-party state and was reelected in 1989. In 1990 exiled Tutsi formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front with Paul Kagame at the lead. Following economic pressures, the Hutu government allowed political parties to organize, and in 1991, Habyarimana transitioned the government with a peace agreement with the RPR. In 1994 Habyarimana died in a plane graph and dissidents in his party, the Mouvement révolutionire national pour le développement (MRND), took power with the Rwandan army. They launched a genocidal massacre, killing mostly Tutsi; 800,000 died. The RPF took over the country in 1994 and ended the genocide. In 2000 president Paseur Bizimunguy led as apart of a coalition. In 2003 he was replaced by Paul Kagame of the RPF took control, which continues. Kagame was set to end his presidency in 2017, but in 2015 he forced a constitutional amendment through allowing him to stay in power until 2034.

DATA VISUALIZATIONS

PROTESTS