Rwanda will prioritise regional issues

Subject

Rwandan foreign relations.

Significance

In October, France reopened investigations into the role of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, the ruling government, in shooting down President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane in 1994, the event that triggered the genocide. Then in late November, Rwanda began investigations into French complicity in the genocide, further souring relations between the two countries. In the lead-up to next year’s presidential election in Rwanda, a renewed spotlight will fall on Kigali’s relations with international donors and other foreign actors.

Impacts

• Rwanda will feel little external pressure to alter the domestic political and human rights environment.
• Instability in the Great Lakes region will pose substantial foreign relations challenges.
• Rwanda should prove itself adept at navigating economic and conflict-mediation divisions within the East African Community (EAC).
• Ties with Tanzania will be key in restoring relations with South Africa and managing rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).