NZARAMBA: The Hidden Famine Devouring Rwanda's Population

Overview This special report, by the Global Campaign for Rwandans' Human Rights, exposes a devastating famine that struck Rwanda beginning in November 2015 and which the government has denied, censored and worked to conceal. The famine was given the name "Nzaramba", "I will live long", the moniker Rwandan communities used to stress the acuteness of the disaster, continuing a tradition of naming great famines that stretches back to Ruzagayura (1943-1944) and beyond. The campaign's investigation confirmed that more than three million Rwandans faced severe famine and more than 150,000 were forced to flee to neighbouring countries, notably Uganda. The crisis was concentrated in the Eastern Province districts of Rwamagana, Nyagatare, Bugesera, Kayonza and Kirehe, and in the Southern Province districts of Nyanza and Gisagara. Hundreds of thousands of people perished. The government of Rwanda continued to blame climate change as the sole cause of poor harvests. The investigation instead established that the famine was driven by the decline of the Rwandan economy, ill-adapted agricultural policies, the deliberate distortion of the population, a muzzled freedom of expression, and political manoeuvres aimed at starving the population. The government refused to appeal for international humanitarian assistance, investing enormous sums instead in polishing the country's image as a continental model of growth, a so-called economic miracle that sceptical researchers have exposed as a mirage resting on ingeniously fabricated figures. A general media censorship was imposed on the crisis. No public or independent media could cover the true scale of the famine, and publications challenging the official line were branded disinformation organs working for the enemies of the state. Only in July 2016, when Kenya's The East African dared to publish on the famine, did the crisis begin to surface internationally. The report sets out the full picture of the famine crisis, its causes, and why the world remains unaware of it, before presenting conclusions and recommendations calling for official recognition, emergency food assistance and unconditional humanitarian access.