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 t ...

: ''intara'') are divided into districts (''akarere'') and municipalities (''umujyi''). Prior to January 1, 2006, Rwanda was composed of 12

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

s. 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 H ...

. 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 * Cyangugu Province * Gikongoro Province * Gisenyi Province * Gitarama Province * Kibungo Province * Kibuye Province *

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-Rural Province, known in Kinyarwanda as Kigali-Ngali, was a province that surrounds the city of Kigali, Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Centra ...

(Kigali Ngali) * Ruhengeri Province * Umutara Province (Established in August 1996)

References

External links

Ministry of Local Government, Community Development and Social Affairs

Rwanda redrawn to reflect compass

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, 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