Kigali

Kigali is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Rwanda. The founding of the city is credited to Dr. Richard Kandt (b. 1867–d. 1918), who arrived in 1898 with the first German imperial delegation. In 1907 Kandt, as the German Kaiser’s representative, constructed a house and established residency at Kigali, in present-day Muhima sector. As the Rwandan royal court was at Nyanza in the southern part of the kingdom, Mwami Yuhi Musinga (b. 1893–d. 1944) initially asked Kandt not to establish a residency at Kigali, as he feared its location in the east-central region would allow the Germans more centralized control over the kingdom. Kandt did not comply, however, and established a residence on Nyarugenge Hill near to the present-day Gakinjiro market. Thereafter Kigali served as the administrative center for both the German and Belgian colonial administrations. With a central location between Tanzania, the Belgian Congo, Uganda, and Burundi, Kigali developed into an important commercial center frequented by trade caravans. In 1962, following Rwanda’s independence, Kigali became the formal capital. Throughout the first two presidencies of Grégoire Kayibanda (1962–1973) and Juvénal Habyarimana (1973–1994), Kigali remained a relatively small, obscure city as the country was being developed. The city first came to the wider world’s attention when Habyarimana’s plane was shot down by a missile as it approached Kigali International Airport on April 6, 1994, an event that triggered the start of the Rwandan genocide. In the ensuing months, forces under Paul Kagame, who would become president in 2000, advanced southward toward the city to end the killings and take control of the country. As a result, Kigali, like most of Rwanda, experienced considerable destruction. After securing power, Kagame and the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), aided by considerable development money, rebuilt and transformed Kigali. The most momentous transformation occurred as the result of hundreds of thousands of Tutsi refugees who returned to Rwanda after years in exile. Since most of the refugees no longer had any ties to their rural places of origin, they took up residence and began new lives in the urban areas, most notably Kigali. In the years since, Kigali has undergone a remarkable transformation into a highly modern and cosmopolitan commercial hub, often touted as a model for urban development in Africa. Some refer to Kigali as the “Singapore of Africa.” Yet with a metropolitan population that roughly tripled between 1991 and 2001, burgeoning presently to over one million, developmental challenges remain in terms of health, sanitation, housing, economic inclusiveness, and urban planning. Anticipating continued robust growth, Kigali launched a 2008 Conceptual Master Plan for phased-in development to 2040.