Both inside Rwanda and in the region, the year has been eventful. The September 2013
parliamentary elections have confirmed the cosmetic nature of the polls, and the field is being
prepared to allow Kagame to run again in 2017. The regime has continued to harass and even
physically eliminate its opponents in Rwanda and abroad. An event that could have major
long-term effects has been the launch of the Ndi Umunyarwanda programme, which contains
a part that makes the Hutu collectively guilty for the genocide. This not only confirms the
outcome of the gacaca procedures but also challenges the full citizenship of the vast majority
of the population. This initiative, inspired by Kagame in person, risks increasing the prevailing
structural violence.
Economic governance remains good. Life expectancy has increased spectacularly from
51.2 to 64.4 between 2002 and 2012, a strong sign of improved health and, more generally,
quality of life. Other socio-economic indicators too have shown improvements. However,
economic growth has slowed down significantly as a result of a major setback in the DRC and
of a decrease of international aid.
Justice has remained an instrument of political repression, and human rights continue to
be violated, particularly the rights to life and personal freedom, as well as those of expression,
assembly and association. Together with the support given by Rwanda to the Congolese
rebel movement M23, these signs of poor political governance have negatively impacted the
international image of the country, including with its most important allies, the US and the UK.
At the regional level, the defeat of M23 has been catastrophic. Not only has it deprived
Rwanda of its last foothold in the DRC, but this episode has also isolated it by creating, together
with other factors, serious conflicts with Tanzania and South Africa. The fallout with Tanzania
against the background of the Congo conflict gives rise to regional reconfigurations that
threaten the functioning and perhaps even the very existence of the East African Community