Landlocked, with limited resources, tricky neighbours and the highest population density in Africa, the odds would seem stacked against Rwanda as it seeks to put a tragic past behind it and build a more prosperous, stable future.
Under verdant mountains and sinuous valleys tilled by legions of subsistence farmers are hidden deposits of gold, coltan and cassiterite. A vast store of methane lies compressed beneath the waters of Lake Kivu on its western border. Efforts are under way to exploit this to boost national electricity output from just 35 megawatts. If Uganda’s recent discoveries stretch south, there may even be some oil.
