Rwanda - The African Mirror

Mar

2024

Kigali is Africa’s fastest rising international financial centre

RWANDA’S deliberate move to carve a niche in sustainable finance is helping to grow Kigali as Africa’s next significant International Financial Centre. The capital city has climbed up 18 spots, the highest in Africa and third highest globally, in the 35th edition of the Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI) rankings, placing it third in Africa and 67th globally. “The greatest improvements were seen by Sao Paulo — up 21 places, Wellington up 15, and Reykjavik and Kigali up 14 places,” the publishers of the index reported. Kigali has also been identified as one of two African centres, alongside Casablanca, likely…

Mar

2024

By KAREN MCINTYRE and MEGHAN SOBEL COHEN

Press freedom in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda: what journalists have to say about doing their jobs

MEDIA FREEDOM

A majority of the world’s population has experienced a decline in press freedom in recent years, according to a UN report. In East Africa, the results are mixed and debatable. In Rwanda, both international press freedom rankings and journalists on the ground say press freedom has increased over the past 10 years. In neighbouring Uganda, both international rankings and local journalists say media freedom has declined. In Kenya, rankings reflect declining freedom over the past decade, but reporters acknowledge they have more freedom than their counterparts in Uganda and Rwanda. In our roles as associate professors in journalism and mass…

Mar

2024

By MAARTJE WEERDESTEIJN

Rwanda: Paul Kagame is a dictator who clings to power but it’s not just for his own gain

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

RWANDA’S president Paul Kagame recently said he was looking forward to his retirement after 23 years in power. Speaking to the press in April 2023, he claimed he “may join journalism in my old age” – a somewhat surprising choice, given the poor state of the freedom of the press in Rwanda. But the chances that Kagame will actually step down seem rather small. After a controversial referendum in 2015, Rwandans voted to extend presidential term limits, allowing Kagame to rule potentially until 2034. More recently, Kagame was re-elected to head the ruling party – the Rwandan Patriotic Front –…

Mar

2024

By ANDREW MACASKILL

UK plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda suffers first parliamentary defeats

NEWS

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered his first defeat over his legislation to send asylum seekers to Rwanda after the upper house of parliament demanded greater protections to be introduced before deportation flights can take off. Under the Rwanda plan, which has yet to be carried out, asylum seekers who arrive on England's southern coast in small, inflatable boats would be sent to live in Rwanda, but so far no one has been deported because of ongoing legal challenges. In an effort to overcome resistance from the courts, Sunak's government is passing legislation through parliament that would block further legal challenges…

Feb

2024

By The African Mirror

US condemns worsening violence in east of DR Congo, accuses Rwanda

NEWS

THE United States condemned worsening violence in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), blaming it on M23, an armed group it said is backed by Rwanda. A statement from the U.S. State Department called on M23 to cease hostilities immediately and withdraw from its current positions around Sake and Goma. "The United States condemns Rwanda's support for the M23 armed group," the statement said. It called on Rwanda to immediately withdraw all of its military personnel from the DRC and remove surface-to-air missile systems, saying these threatened the lives of civilians, U.N. and other regional peacekeepers, humanitarian workers and…

Feb

2024

By LIN TAYLOR and NITA BHALLA

UK’s Rwanda plan: Which other nations send asylum seekers abroad?

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a setback to his plans to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda after parliament's upper house backed a largely symbolic motion to delay ratification of a treaty aimed at overcoming a legal block. Sunak's "Safety of Rwanda" bill seeks to override a decision by the UK Supreme Court, which ruled last month that the East African country was an unsafe place to send asylum seekers, and the UK Supreme Court ruled last year that the East African nation was not a safe country to send people. Britain then signed a treaty with Rwanda, which it said addressed those…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Rwanda says it kills Congolese soldier, arrests two more

NEWS

RWANDA said that it had killed a soldier from the Democratic Republic of Congo and captured two others on its territory in the latest friction on their border. The Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) said in a statement the Congolese soldiers crossed at Rubavu town, with one shot dead when he fired at a patrol and the other two arrested. The soldiers had an AK-47 gun, four magazines with 105 rounds, a protective vest and sachets of cannabis, the RDF said. Congolese military spokesperson Sylvain Ekenge said he was unaware of the incident. Kinshasa has long accused Kigali of backing M23…

Dec

2023

By The African Mirror

Rwanda says GDP growth expected to rise in 2024, still below 2022 figure

BUSINESS

RWANDA'S economy is expected to grow 6.6% in 2024, up from this year's figure of 6.2%, the finance minister and central bank governor told the International Monetary Fund in a letter. In February, Finance Minister Uzziel Ndagijimana had forecast economic growth of about 7.5% for the East African country in 2024 and 2025. The economy grew 8.2% in 2022. "We foresee a temporary softening of economic growth, driven by needed tighter fiscal and monetary policies," Ndagijimana and Central Bank Governor John Rwangombwa said in the November 29 letter, made public late on Monday. "On the demand side, private consumption and investment are…

Dec

2023

By The African Mirror

BioNTech aims to start mRNA vaccine output in Rwanda in 2025

NEWS

COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech aims to start production at its mRNA vaccine factory site in Rwanda in 2025, company officials said, the first foreign company mRNA vaccine manufacturing site on the continent. The German company's first modular factory elements, based on shipping containers, were delivered to the Kigali construction site in March and were then assembled into so-called BioNTainers. “Africa will have one of the most advanced manufacturing facilities in the world," Ugur Sahin, BioNTech co-founder and chief executive officer, said. "These BioNTainers will able to manufacture any kind of mRNA vaccines.” The company said in a statement it had fully…

Dec

2023

By ANDREW MACASKILL, MICHAEL HOLDEN and KYLIE MACLELLAN

UK lawmakers in Sunak’s party say Rwanda bill not tough enough

NEWS

BRITISH Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was scrambling to get enough support for his flagship immigration policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda after some lawmakers in his party said a planned emergency law was not tough enough. Sunak is facing a critical test of his authority with politicians on the right and the left of the Conservative Party threatening to vote against the bill when it goes before parliament on Tuesday. In a boost late on Monday, a centrist group of lawmakers in the One Nation faction recommended that its members back the bill but warned that they would not accept any…