RWANDA RWANDA

To the south-west of the Virunga Mountains, along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the Lake Kivu (2,700 sq km), at a height of 1,460 meters above sea level; south of the lake flows the river Ruzizi, whose valley located 950 meters above sea level, is the lowest point in the country. In the east of Rwanda, towards the border with Tanzania, the plateau is lowered to form an area dotted with lakes, here, along the border with Tanzania runs the Kagera river, a source of the Nile. Forests are concentrated on the slopes of the Virunga mountains and the surrounding Lake Kivu. Rwanda is one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in Africa, the situation, already critical, was aggravated by the devastating civil war between Hutus and Tutsis that, in 1994, caused about 1,000,000 deaths. The economy is mainly agricultural, are products potatoes, batate, millet, cassava, sorghum, maize, beans, wheat, peas, tea, coffee, tobacco, peanuts. Not many are the mineral resources, there are deposits of tin, tungsten, gold and tantalite. Important is the breeding, mainly of sheep, cattle, goats and poultry, little relevant fishing practiced in the waters of Lake Kivu.