Inside Nsinda prison
I visited Nsinda Prison in Rwamagana province, eastern Rwanda a couple of week’s back. Rwanda has an impressive track record when it comes to using renewable energy and I wanted to see how the prison used biogas. Prison’s have a… how can we put this delicately… fairly constant supply of raw material with which to [...]
Ingabire case adjourned until Wednesday
Victoire Ingabire appeared at Kigali Supreme Court this morning. She’s accused of divisionism and terrorist activities. Her trial has long been delayed. She was arrested in October, 2010 and last appeared in court in June, 2011. At that appearance, her defence team requested more time to translate her dossier into English, Ingabire said she needed [...]
Bank of Kigali launches on Rwanda Stock Exchange
Rwanda’s largest bank, The Bank of Kigali, arrived on the eight month old Rwanda Stock Exchange this morning. I wouldn’t normally blog about something like this, but it’s the first story I have covered in my new job as the Rwanda-based foreign correspondent for Reuters. I’ll blog more on the job, and why I chose [...]
Rwanda face England in U17 World Cup
Rwanda face England tonight, Sunday 19 June, in the U17 World Cup in Mexico. My friends and colleagues Claudio von Planta and Sorious Samura are with the team in Mexico filming their progress. Claudio sent me this brief report on how Faustin Usengimana, who plays as defender for the Junior Wasps, is feeling after he [...]
From your own correspondent
I was asked recently to put together a segment for the BBC World Service radio programme From Our Own Correspondent. FooC, as it is known within the BBC, has been running for over 50 years. It’s a part of the more ancient BBC furniture and is a well respected slot within the broadcaster’s output as a [...]
Tweeting the President of Rwanda
Barely two months after the Rwandan government encouraged decision makers at all levels to join social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, we see our first heated exchange. London-based journalist Ian Birrell used his personal Twitter account to quote some sections from an interesting interview with President Paul Kagame in the Financial Times. The President [...]
Rwanda prepares for World Cup in Mexico
Here’s a feel good story for you. In January, 2011, the Rwanda U17 football team – or Junior Wasps as they are know locally – qualified for the U17 World Cup that will take place in Mexico, in June. The team’s success comes 17 years after the 1994 Genocide. The players were all born in [...]
Gacaca book launched in Kigali
The launch for Dr. Phil Clark’s new book, The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda: Justice without Lawyers, was held at he Umubano Hotel in Kigali yesterday, April 21. Phil started work on the project in 2001, when the gacaca process began. He conducted nearly 550 interviews with with genocide suspects, survivors, gacaca [...]
17 years ago today in Rwanda
Between July 1993 – July 1994, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) broadcast from the second floor of this non-descript office building on the corner at 12 Avenue de la Paix in downtown Kigali. The second floor office is now occupied by Gapco Rwanda, a petroleum company. A mobile phone shop operates out of the [...]
Rwandatel and the Libyan money trail
Rwandatel, the 80% Libyan owned Rwandan telecommunications company, lost its license to provide mobile and 3G services late yesterday, 4 April. According to the Rwanda regulator (RURA), the decision has nothing to do with the uprising in Libya, [Regis Gatarayiha, acting director-general of the agency] said the decision to revoke the license wasn’t related to [...]
