Rwanda

In 1959, three years before independence from Belgium, the majority ethnic group, the Hutus, overthrew the ruling Tutsi king. Over the next several years, thousands of Tutsis were killed, and some 150,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries. The children of these exiles later formed a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and began a civil war in 1990. The war, along with several political and economic upheavals, exacerbated ethnic tensions, culminating in April 1994 in the genocide of roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The Tutsi rebels defeated the Hutu regime and ended the killing in July 1994, but approximately 2 million Hutu refugees - many fearing Tutsi retribution - fled to neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and the former Zaire. Since then, most of the refugees have returned to Rwanda, but about 10,000 remain in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo and have formed an extremist insurgency bent on retaking Rwanda, much as the RPF tried in 1990. Despite substantial international assistance and political reforms - including Rwanda's first local elections in March 1999 and its first post-genocide presidential and legislative elections in August and September 2003 - the country continues to struggle to boost investment and agricultural output, and ethnic reconciliation is complicated by the real and perceived Tutsi political dominance. Kigali's increasing centralization and intolerance of dissent, the nagging Hutu extremist insurgency across the border, and Rwandan involvement in two wars in recent years in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to hinder Rwanda's efforts to escape its bloody legacy.

Country profile: Rwanda

The country has been beset by ethnic tension associated with the traditionally unequal relationship between the dominant Tutsi minority and the majority Hutus.

Although after 1959 the ethnic relationship was reversed, when civil war prompted around 200,000 Tutsis to flee to Burundi, lingering resentment led to periodic massacres of Tutsis.

The most notorious of these began in April 1994. The shooting down of the plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana, and his Burundian counterpart, near Kigali triggered what appeared to be a coordinated attempt by Hutus to eliminate the Tutsi population.

AT-A-GLANCE

• Politics: Rwanda is trying to shake off its image associated with the 1994 state-sponsored genocide; the government argues the country is now stable
• Economy: Growth has exceeded 5% in the five years since 2001, driven by coffee and tea exports and expanding tourism; poverty is widespread and Rwanda is highly dependent on aid
• Justice: The UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), sitting in Tanzania, had rendered 30 judgements related to the 1994 genocide by October 2006

In response, the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) launched a military campaign to control the country. It achieved this by July, by which time at least 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus had been brutally massacred.

Some two million Hutus fled to Zaire, now the DR Congo. They included some of those responsible for the massacres, and some joined Zairean forces to attack local Tutsis. Rwanda responded by invading refugee camps dominated by Hutu militiamen.

Meanwhile, Laurent Kabila, who seized control of Zaire and renamed it the DR Congo, failed to banish the Hutu extremists, prompting Rwanda to support the rebels trying to overthrow him.

Rwanda withdrew its forces from DR Congo in late 2002 after signing a peace deal with Kinshasa. But tensions simmer, with Rwanda accusing the Congolese army of aiding Hutu rebels in eastern DR Congo.

Rwanda has used traditional "gacaca" community courts to try those suspected of taking part in the 1994 genocide. But key individuals - particularly those accused of orchestrating the slaughter - appear before an International Criminal Tribunal in northern Tanzania.

The country is striving to rebuild its economy, with coffee and tea production being among its main sources of foreign exchange. Nearly two thirds of the population live below the poverty line.

• Full name: Republic of Rwanda
• Population: 8.6 million (UN, 2005)
• Capital: Kigali
• Area: 26,338 sq km (10,169 sq miles)
• Major languages: Kinyarwanda (official), French (official), English (official), Swahili
• Major religions: Christianity, indigenous beliefs
• Life expectancy: 42 years (men), 45 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 Rwandan franc = 100 centimes
• Main exports: Coffee, tea, hides, tin ore
• GNI per capita: US $230 (World Bank, 2006)
• Internet domain: .rw
• International dialling code: +250

President: Paul Kagame

In August 2003 Paul Kagame - who had been selected by MPs as president in 2000 - claimed a landslide victory in the first presidential elections since the 1994 genocide.

Rwanda has been relatively stable under Mr Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), but the Crisis Group - a conflict-prevention agency - reported in 2002 that the RPF tolerated no criticism or challenge to its authority.

Born in western Rwanda in 1957, Mr Kagame grew up in Uganda, where his parents fled to escape Hutu violence.

He joined Yoweri Museveni - Uganda's future president - in the fight to topple Milton Obote, rising to become Mr Museveni's intelligence chief.

He was instrumental in establishing the RPF, becoming its military commander. His rebel force ended the 1994 genocide.

Mr Kagame has rejected the conclusions of a French report which said he ordered the 1994 rocket attack on a plane carrying the then-president, which sparked the genocide.

Known to his colleagues as an incorruptible teetotaller, Mr Kagame downplays any ethnic agenda, presenting himself as a Rwandan and not a Tutsi. His government has redrawn Rwanda's political boundaries in an attempt to blur the distinction between ethnic Hutu and Tutsi areas.