In the last piece in this series of historical narratives, we saw how the Inyenzi struggle crumbled because of a lack of unified leadership and a clear political line. This opened up a new chapter for President Gregoire Kayibanda’s regime as we shall see in this narrative as we progress.

Relationship with neighbouring countries

Under the first republic, Gregoire Kayibanda’s regime faced problems of opening up the country and integrating it regionally and internationally. Regionally, diplomatic action targeted opening up land-locked Rwanda which lay very far from the Indian Ocean. The country also wanted to establish good relations with her neighbours that hosted Rwandese refugees. They included Burundi, Congo, Tanzania and Uganda.

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The first diplomatic activities were directed at East Africa for communication and security reasons. Diplomatic endeavours were realized in January 1965 by a mission of good neighbourliness. It was led by the Minister of Interior and Works, who toured the three East African states. With Tanzania two important arrangements were finalized, namely the revival of the extradition treaty of "criminal fugitives” and the opening of a direct commercial route between the two countries.

The arrangements were followed by the accreditation of a Rwandan ambassador to Dar es Salaam on August11, 1966. During the second good neighbourliness mission, an agreement that provided for the construction of a bridge at Rusumo on the Akagera River was signed. It was also agreed to construct a hydro-electric dam in the same area. They also proposed to open up an airline which would link Kigali with Dar es Saalam

The good relations that existed between Rwanda and Tanzania were strengthened by reciprocal presidential visits. In December 1967, President Kayibanda visited and in July 1968 President Julius Nyerere visited Rwanda. During these visits, various projects of common interest were discussed. They covered different domains such as energy, commerce, health, tourism.

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The problem of the Rwandan refugees who made incursions into Rwanda and the role of Uganda in the transportation of materials towards or from East Africa necessitated the opening of diplomatic relations and cooperation with Uganda. It was for that reason that Rwanda opened up an embassy in Kampala.

The Ugandan Minister of Planning and Community Development visited Rwanda in September 1964. The purpose of the visit was to broaden economic cooperation between the two countries. In August 1966, Rwandan envoys were well received by President Milton Obote. Among the issues discussed during that mission were the drainage of the Mulindi marshland. Thereafter, Rwanda-Uganda cooperation was extended to telecommunications and the establishment of a radio relay system as well as in the fields of customs cooperation and commerce.

Diplomatic relations between Rwanda and Congo (DR Congo today) started in 1963 when Rwanda opened an embassy in Leopoldville and Congo opened theirs in Kigali in 1964. These relations were also strengthened by a "friendship mission” that was accomplished by Otto Rusingizandekwe, the Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Transport at the time. During this mission, conventions related to justice, public health, commerce were signed.

These good relations encouraged the Congo and Rwanda together with Burundi to create a common organization to promote economic, financial, cultural, social, judicial and other types of cooperation. This was at the end of a conference held in August 1966 in Leopoldville. The conference was followed by another one which took place in Goma in March 1967 to strengthen the above project. However, the project was frozen because of the problem of mercenaries and Katangese x Gendarmes, which exploded and interrupted relations between Congo-Leopoldville and Rwanda for a year.