The communes of Nyagatare and Kahi lie to the east of Willy’s village, which were settled since before the war. These have relatively better developed infrastructures and a greater NGO presence than the communes further north or west. In Willy’s village, water for human consumption is largely insufficient, and the majority of dwellings are far away from clean water sources. One-third of all water installations were damaged in 1994, and 25% of people in rural areas (in which 94% of the population live) have no access to safe drinking water. 6 000 child deaths every year from diarrhoea could be prevented if the water supply were improved. To obtain water from a pump, families have to pay 100 Rwandan francs. Those who cannot afford to pay 200 francs for a 20 litre jerry-can of drinking water from the trading store 5km away, have to use water from a nearby stream, which may carry bilharzia. Some of Willy’s friends live in Ruhengeri, including Emmanuel, who returned to Rwanda with his parents in 1996 from Tanzania, after they had fled in 1994, along with more than 2 million other refugees who fled to Rwanda’s border countries – Tanzania, the Republic of Congo (then Zaïre), Burundi and Uganda. In the genocide that followed the Hutu president, Juvénal Habyarimana’s, assassination in April 1994, almost 1million of Rwanda’s 7.6 million inhabitants were killed. Rwanda is in a transitional phase; although humanitarian needs have decreased since 1994, development needs have increased. Willy and Emmanuel and their families are still vulnerable and live below the poverty line, along with 65% of the Rwandese population.

Obviously, solutions to the multi-faceted crisis in Rwanda are elusive. Oxfam believes that, in the interests of sustainability and improved self-reliance, an immediate ceiling must be set on repayment levels, at no more than 10% of public spending levels; and that the debt-reduction framework must be accelerated. It is said that implementation of HIPC debt relief could make $31,8 million available for financing an immediate phasing-out of user fees in healthcare and education, and that it could create a “poverty window” – providing incentives for the Rwandan government to invest savings in priority social sectors and basic infrastructure. Limiting repayments to 10% of public revenue for duration of reform and reconstruction programme would free funds, but also result in a substantial accumulation of arrears, which would need to be sterilised with the agreement of creditors, on the condition that the govt remained on track with its commitments to human rights and alleviating poverty. This is very much in doubt, and Kaplan has already warned against forcing poor countries to implement “austerity measures” when the elite has no comprehension of what they mean or how to handle them.

Another problem for the sector is weak domestic purchasing power, which has been compounded by rising consumption taxes, including VAT and increased levies on tobacco and alcohol. There are an estimated 65,000 salaried workers in total, most of whom are civil servants, who do not earn enough for the government to be able to service its needs by directly taxing their incomes. Inflation in Rwanda is close to 10%, and food is expensive by regional standards. The cost of bread in Rwanda is 135% of the cost in South Africa, for example, and in the late 80s, the price of bread shot up by 77%. Given that the country has a predominantly rural population, engaged in smallholder farming, and a tiny export base, the scope for raising additional revenues to pay off its debt (not to mention subsidising farmers, instead of food) is severely limited.

Almost all the economically active people among the rural inhabitants work as subsistence farmers. Including several thousand tea estate workers, an estimated 4.5million people work in the primary sector. There are fewer than 10,000 industrial workers, and an unknown

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