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A small, cool, green, mountainous country, with elevations ranging
from 4,800 to 15,000 feet, Rwanda is often referred to as the
Switzerland of Africa. It is located in east central Africa just
south of the equator. It has a population of about 8 million and
is made up of three tribes: Hutu (90%), Tutsi (9%) and Twa (1%).
It is one of the poorest countries in Africa. Most of the population
either raises cattle or farms the land, generally working at the
subsistence level. In the late 19th century Rwanda became a Germany
colony, but after the First World War it was administered by Belgium
under a League of Nations mandate. Its formal independence came
on July 1, 1962. The common language of the population is Kinyarwanda,
but French and, increasingly, English are the languages of government
and education. About half the population is Roman Catholic, a
quarter is Protestant, and perhaps 6 percent is Muslim.
"Rwanda has long suffered from ethnic hatred and rivalry,"
writes Michael. "The original inhabitants of the region were
the Twa, a pygmoid people who were hunters and gatherers. Later
the region was settled by the Hutu, who almost completely displaced
the Twa, and who practiced farming. The last tribe to enter the
region was the Tutsi, who were cattle-raisers. Because cattle
gave the minority Tutsi tribe great economic leverage in the country,
the Tutsi quickly became the ruling aristocracy, a situation that
continued through the colonial period. In the post-colonial period,
the Hutu gained control of the government, persecuted the Tutsi,
and forced many into exile in Uganda. Civil war broke out in 1991.
In 1993 a peace agreement was worked out between the rival ethnic
groups, with the Hutu promising to share power with the Tutsi.
The process was interrupted on April 6, 1994, when the Hutu leader
Habyarimana died in a plane crash, and the nation was quickly
engulfed by the violence that culminated in a genocidal rampage
in which some 800,000 Tutsi were killed. As Philip Gourevitch
points out in his book, We wish to inform you that tomorrow
we will be killed with our families: Stories from Rwanda,
the conflict between the Hutu farmers and the Tutsi cattle-raisers
is as old as the story of Cain and Abel. "For Cain tilled
the land and Abel tended flocks; and Cain, being jealous of Abel's
success, rose up against his brother and slew him."
Born in Los Angeles, California, Michael graduated with a BA
degree from the University of California. He later earned his
MDiv degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California,
and an MA degree in history and a PhD in American intellectual
and cultural history from the University of Maryland in College
Park, Maryland. As a short-term missionary in Pakistan, Michael
wrote radio scripts for biblical characters at the Pakistan Bible
Correspondence School before becoming a teaching assistant in
the University of Maryland's History Department. During his previous
assignment, in Sudan, Michael was a professor at the Nile Theological
College. He taught the general survey course in church history
and Sudanese and African church history. He also occasionally
taught New Testament Greek and New Testament interpretation.
Birthday: March 2
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