- World Report 2024: Rwanda (hrw.org)
Commentators, journalists, opposition activists, and others speaking out on current affairs and criticizing public policies in Rwanda continued to face abusive prosecutions, enforced disappearances, and have at times died under unexplained circumstances. In January, journalist John Williams Ntwali died in suspicious circumstances. The authorities said he died in a road accident, but they provided no evidence of such an accident and held a hasty trial, essentially behind closed doors, leaving many questions unanswered.
- Marcellus Shrub Steppe Natural Area Preserve (dnr.wa.gov)
This 386-acre preserve protects two types of native shrub-grasslands that were once widespread in this portion of the Columbia Basin. Situated amid acres of cultivated farmland, this site provides native habitat for a myriad of birds and other wildlife associated with the shrub-steppe environment, such as sage thrashers and grasshopper sparrows. Seasonal ponds, very rare and easily-disturbed habitats, are also found on this site and support unusual plant and animal assemblages.
state department website of
- Rwanda (Wikipedia)
Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is highly elevated, giving it the soubriquet “land of a thousand hills” (French: pays des mille collines), with its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the southeast, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year. It is the most densely populated mainland African country; among countries larger than 10,000 km2, it is the fifth-most densely populated country in the world. Its capital and largest city is Kigali.
