 Rwanda,
the rebirth of a nation |
Introduction
Just eight years after the horrible scenes that
shocked the world in 1994 from the tiny Central
African country, Rwanda has cast aside it's past
tragic to build a strong cohesive nation. Rwanda
has baffled its sceptics who never expected the
country in which one
Million people died to recover so soon.
The Rwandan transition has been a delicate process,
which is proving a success only because the different
partners had respect for each other, and agreed
to stick to the rules of the game. The economy is
performing at the pre-1994 levels and politically
giant strides have been made in the direction of
national reconciliation. The population has turned
its back and cast aside the old prejudices on ethnic
division they had been taught by the past leadership. |
The population is now
preparing for a busy year ahead as the mandate of
the eight-year old government of national unity
draws to an end. A new constitution is being drafted,
presidential elections under a multi-party system
are envisaged for 2003 and no major slippages are
anticipated. Ideally a new government should be
in place by August 1, 2003.
The burden on justice sector is likely to ease shortly
with the commencement of the Gacaca community courts,
which are expected to dispose of the bulk of the
120,000 cases involving genocide suspects. Some
250,000-community judges have been trained to try
the cases, which will reduce prison population and
bring healing and reconciliation in society. |
