Population density: 337/km2 (872/mi2)
Main languages spoken: Kinyarwanda, French, Kiswahili, English Hutu and Tutsi are the main groups; few Twa pygmies, the original inhabitants, remain. For more than 500 years, the cattle-owning Tutsi were politically dominant, oppressing the landowning Hutu majority. In 1959, violent revolt led to a reversal. The two groups have since been waging a spasmodic war. Around 800,000 people were killed in the violence of the mid-1990s, the majority of them Tutsi victims massacred by Hutus. Complicity by Christian clergy in the genocide has led many people to convert to Islam. THE URBAN/RURAL POPULATION SPLIT
 ETHNIC MAKEUP
 From "The Financial Times World Desk Reference" © Dorling Kindersley 2004 | 
