The provinces of Rwanda (

Kinyarwanda Kinyarwanda, Rwandan or Rwanda, officially known as Ikinyarwanda, is a Bantu language and a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language that is spoken in Rwanda and adjacent parts of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda (where ther ...

: ''intara'') are divided into

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

(''akarere'') and municipalities (''umujyi''). Prior to January 1, 2006,

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equat ...

was composed of 12 provinces. The Rwandan government decided to establish new provinces in an attempt to address issues that arose from the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

. The new provinces were to be "ethnically-diverse administrative areas". Until 2002, the provinces were called prefectures (''perefegitura'').

Provinces

As of January 1, 2006 the five provinces of Rwanda are:

Provincial districts and sectors

Eastern Province

Northern Province

Western Province

Southern Province

Kigali

Former provinces

Prior to 2006 the provinces were: Communes of Rwanda

* Butare Province *

Byumba Province Byumba Province was one of the 12 former provinces (''intara'') of Rwanda and was situated in the north of the country, sharing a border with Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, ...

Cyangugu Province Cyangugu Province was one of the 12 former provinces of Rwanda. In 2006, it became part of the Western Province. It bordered Bukavu Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), lying at the extreme south-western edge of La ...

* Gikongoro Province * Gisenyi Province *

Gitarama Province Gitarama was one of the former twelve provinces (''intara'') of Rwanda and was situated in the centre of the country, to the west of the capital Kigali. Gitarama Prefecture was created in 1959, increasing the number of prefectures of Rwanda from e ...

* Kibungo Province *

Kibuye Province The Province of Kibuye was, between 2002 and 2006, one of the 12 provinces of Rwanda (known as prefectures before the administrative reform of 2002). Kibuye, Rwanda was the "capital" (or, in certain official Rwandan texts, the "major city"). The ...

Kigali City Kigali () is the capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwanda's economic, cultu ...

(Established as a province in 1990) * Kigali-Rural Province (Kigali Ngali) * Ruhengeri Province *

Umutara Province Until January 2006, Umutara Province was one of the 12 provinces (''intara'') of Rwanda. However, due to local government reorganization, this area is now part of the new larger Eastern Province. The old province was situated in the north-east ...

(Established in August 1996)

References

External links

Ministry of Local Government, Community Development and Social Affairs

Rwanda redrawn to reflect compass
BBC News, 3 January 2006 {{Articles on first-level administrative divisions of African countries Subdivisions of Rwanda Rwanda, Provinces Rwanda 1 Provinces, Rwanda Rwanda geography-related lists