The Rwanda Daily
I have a created a “newspaper” for all those interested in Rwanda. The Rwanda Daily is published once per day and you can sign up for it by clicking on the “Alert me” button at Paper.li and adding your email address. You will then receive an email once per day letting you know when the [...]
Suspected grenade attack in Kigali
A suspected grenade attack hit central Kigali at approximately 7pm yesterday evening at the busy Rubangura bus stop. At least 7 people were wounded in the attack. Rwandan police have arrested three suspects and are linking this attack to a spate of similar attacks which began in February, 2010, “We have arrested three suspects, who [...]
Kagame wins Rwanda election
There was no discussion about who would win Rwanda’s 2010 Presidential election among Rwandan and foreign hacks as we drove through the eastern provinces yesterday afternoon. As we passed shuttered polling stations, the betting began. How much would President Paul Kagame win by? By 5pm, we’d heard three preliminary results from three separate polling stations. [...]
Rwanda votes
Kigali residents were out in numbers this morning to vote in the 2010 Presidential election. Voting was scheduled to begin at 6am. I spotted a line of 60 – 75 voters at around 5:15amin in Kimihuru district. At 5:30am, I headed over to Nyamirambo with Reuters snapper Finbarr O’Reilly to try and gauge the voting [...]
PSD campaign for the Rwanda election
Dr. Jean Damascene Ntawukuriryayo and his Social Democratic Party, or PSD, certainly don’t make it easy for you to find their political rallies. Late morning, I headed east out of Kigali with Reuters correspondent Hez Holland. The rally was scheduled to take place in Rwamagana, some 35km or so from the capital. Mid-journey, the location [...]
Liberal Party rally in Muhanga
Prosper Higiro, the Liberal Party candidate in Rwanda’s 2010 Presidential election, held a rally on a scrap of land in Muhanga, central Rwanda yesterday. The Higiro rally was always going to be smaller than Kagame’s 100,000+ Gicumbi love-in the day earlier. However, myself and the car full of foreign hacks I was ferrying, weren’t quite [...]
Paul Kagame heads to Gicumbi
I hit Rwanda’s political campaign trail in northern Rwanda today. The entire 67km route from Kigali towards Gicumbi district was lined with police. One or two officers were stationed every 500 metres or so. This was clearly a very well organised security operation as well as what turned out to be an efficiently run political [...]
Campaign kicks off in Rwanda
Rwanda’s Presidential election campaign began this week. The four eligible candidates have three weeks to travel around Rwanda and inform voters of their manifestos before polling day on August 9. Local and foreign journalists have a shiny new election press centre to base themselves in. However, according to Rwandan law, the election result does not [...]
One month to Rwanda’s election
“Paranoia on all sides is rife” That’s the last line in a June 2010 Economist article about the situation in Rwanda. Grenade attacks, detention of opposition candidates, assassinations and assassination attempts, coupled with a weak press and an overactive rumour mill has meant that paranoia and fear is common among Rwandans. With the Presidential election [...]
The World Cup in Rwanda
The World Cup has arrived in Rwanda. Bags of bars, cafes and restaurants in Kigali are showing the games live. For the cost of a 500Rwf MTN airtime refill, I went to Amahoro Stadium in the Remera district of Kigali to see the opening game between South Africa and Mexico. I took a few pictures [...]
