Rwanda is a post-genocide society. The psychology of the country's nearly 8 million people is complex. Members of both ethnic groups believe they have been victimized. Rwandans are still sorting out how they will live with each other.
Rwandan society is in a state of extreme flux.
About half of the population has been killed, wounded, uprooted, or returned from long-term exile during the past four years. For the first time in nearly 40 years, the overwhelming majority of Rwandan refugees, Hutu and Tutsi, have repatriated. Many Rwandans are living together for the first time since national independence in 1962. Rwandan society has not yet found a constructive way to discuss ethnic tensions. Government efforts to pretend that ethnic differences do not exist are perhaps well-intentioned but lack credibility among the country's people and tend to stifle useful dialogue.