Gikongoro is a city in
Nyamagabe district,
Southern Province,
Rwanda
Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...
.
It was previously part of
Gikongoro Province, which has been disestablished. Gikongoro province was founded by the newly independent Rwandan state shortly after it gained freedom from
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
in 1962. It was designed to undermine control of the
Tutsi
The Tutsi ( ), also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu languages, Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi ( ...
who had a stronghold in nearby
Nyanza. Before the genocide in 1993, Gikongo city had a population of under 10,000.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
has described Gikongoro town and province at the time of the genocide as "largely incoherent." Local political leader Emmanuel Gapyisi was assassinated in 1993 and minister and PSD head Frederic Nzamurambaho was killed at the start of the genocide.
Once the genocide began, the Tutsi population of Gikongoro was wiped out quickly compared to other towns.
The city has been growing in recent years, with a number of modern buildings constructed. The city is now called Nyamagabe. It is the gateway to
Nyungwe Forest
The Nyungwe Forest () is located in southwestern Rwanda, on the border with Burundi, where it is contiguous with the Kibira National Park to the south, and Lake Kivu and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. The Nyungwe rainforest is ...
, a large area of montane
rain forest
Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...
, home to many species of monkeys and chimpanzees.
Climate
References
Southern Province, Rwanda
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