Trust is a challenge in Rwanda »
The BBC’s Peter Day visited Rwanda recently to find out more about the ambitions for the country. The first part of his report is now online. Peter visited the veg-tastic Kimironko market, talked to Louise Mushikiwabo, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carina Tertsakian, from Human Rights Watch, Josh Ruxin of Rwanda Works and Heaven Restaurant [...]
Sixteen injured as grenade attacks hit Kigali »
Sixteen people were injured in two simultaneous grenade attacks in Kigali last night at around 7pm. The attacks happened in Kimironko, close to the taxi rank, and in Kinamba, near the Gisozi Genocide memorial. The bombings occur less than one month after similar attacks in central Kigali. Only on Wednesday, President Paul Kagame blamed the [...]
Match of the day »
I headed out to Rubona, 35 kilometres east of Kigali, last Saturday to watch a football match. Stoke City were playing Arsenal at the Britannia Stadium in Stoke-upon-Trent in an English premiership match.
A contact from London was in Rwanda for one week to see how feasible it would be to broadcast live football on a [...]
Three hours in Kigali »
Some 26 years after Mitterand, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Kigali today for a total of around three hours. The newly appointed French Ambassador to Rwanda, Laurent Contini, had already stolen much of Sarko’s thunder by announcing the big news earlier in the day; the French school in Kigali is set to re-open in September [...]
Rwanda stamping back to 1970 »
Flickr user Footysphere takes a great look back at some postage stamps apparently issued by Rwanda during the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. I say “apparently” as, according to stamp spotters on the Internet, there are a lot of fake vintage stamps produced around the world and Rwanda has fallen victim on occasion. If you’re [...]
On the tantalite trail with the knicker bomber »
The Liverpool Echo uses CCTV camera footage to trace the 4350 mile journey of “disgruntled Rwandan businessman” Claude Rubagire as he travelled from Burundi to a factory in Liverpool in March, 2009. The businessman came armed with possibly the world’s most ingenious improvised (non) explosive device – the panty bomb.
For a year Rubagire had tried, [...]
Victoire Ingabire (does not) seek refuge at UK High Commission »
This story appears to be a hoax. I’m told Ingabire had a meeting at the UK High Commission and then went home. I can hardly wait until the presidential race starts for real. Just imagine the jolly japes…
According to her party’s Facebook page (basically a feed of press releases), the 2010 Rwanda presidential election hopeful, [...]
Returning to Rwanda after 16 years »
In the wake of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, an estimated 2 million Hutus fled across the border to DR Congo. Nearly 16 years later, some of these Rwandans are coming home under a reconciliation and repatriation programme sponsored by the United Nations and the Rwanda government. Sorious Samura reports on the returnees for Al Jazeers’a [...]
Rwanda changed my life, but not as much as Uganda »
Go online and read about Rwanda for more than 5 minutes and I guarantee you’ll learn three things very, very quickly – Rwanda has been “completely transformed”, “plastic bags are banned” and “the streets are clean”. These observations are factually accurate and many Rwandans are rightly proud of them. However, there’s one other, perhaps less [...]
That’s one whole lot of cute »
Between 6 – 12 visitors, paying $500 per head, are allowed to visit Rwanda’s famous Gorillas in the Virunga National Park per day. I’ve yet to visit, but I plan to even with the high price tag and one hour time limit. Fortunately, a good many of the visitors who have made the trek took [...]
