World Country Rwanda

About the world country Rwanda, its location, size, population, and who is in power.

NATIONS OF THE WORLD

RWANDA

Location: Inland in east central Africa, on Lake Kivu, between Zaire and Tanzania. Size: 10,169 sq. mi. (26,338 sq. km.). Population: 4,912,000 (90% Hutu, 9% Tutsi, 1% Pygmy).

Who Really Rules: Since Rwanda's 1959 antifeudal revolution, the Bantu Hutu peasant class has controlled the political scene, trusting few Hamitic Tutsi, their former overlords. The president, Maj. Gen. Juvenal Habyarimana, seized power in 1973. In 1978 he staged a constitutional referendum and presidential plebiscite, nominally returning the country to constitutional rule. His National Revolutionary Development Movement (MRND) selected all the candidates for the 1981 National Assembly elections.