Currently, the most pressing issue in Rwanda is the effects the Russo-Ukrainian war is having on Rwanda’s economy. The war has caused an international rise in prices of food and energy. With over 60% of Rwanda’s wheat imports are typically from Russia, Rwanda is being forced to look for other trading partners which is costly and has strained Rwanda’s economy. Already fragile from 3.4% contraction the economy suffered in 2020 due to the pandemic, the war is certainly not helping.
Historically, the biggest problem Rwanda has ever face is the Rwandan Genocide. Ripping itself apart from the inside out, the Rwandan Genocide hurt the country in a cultural, emotional and physical way. Before modern-day Rwanda existed, Belgium ruled it as a colony. Under Belgium’s rule, the divisions between the ethnic groups of Hutus, Tutsis and Twas solidified through the use of an ID card system. The colonial era was marked by Hutu exploitation under the Tutsi elite. In 1959, the Hutu Peasant Revolt occurred, and power transferred to the Hutu majority. Gaining both governmental power and freedom from Belgium by 1962, the Hutu majority proceeded to facilitate widespread discrimination against the Tutsis; this included education quotas, and exclusion from high powered jobs. These actions were grounded in the ideology known as the Hamitic Hypothesis which proposed that Tutsis were foreigners in Rwanda. This narrative spread and this theory of Hutu superiority would later go on to be the justification for the slaughter of over 800,000 Tutsis.
The issue of colonialism isn’t contained to just Rwanda, similar negative ripple effects can be seen across East Africa, Africa and the entire world. The Genocide, and other horrific events that were spurred by colonialism should serve as a warning to any future nations looking to colonize; it can and will have deadly consequences.