In Real News from the Region…

This will be a hopefully frequent “feature” on the blog, where I’ll break with my more fun, writerly self to objectively share news from the region, in that more traditional news voice. Think of me as your RSS feed for things you didn’t know you wanted to know about Central Africa. You’re welcome.

Among the first bits of advice you’ll get, if you’re a Rwanda newbie asking previous visitors for travel advice, is not to mention ethnic groups. It’s a no-brainer, on one hand. It would seem insensitive, even down-right rude, in a country that has experienced genocide. But in Rwanda, it’s also illegal. The ban is taken so seriously by the government that just last week, a new bill was passed in the Lower House to combat “genocide revisionism,” after lawmakers found last year that school kids were taunting each other with ethnic slurs. According to the Rwanda News Agency, children found guilty of breaking the law could will be put in “rehabilitation centers” for “not more than 12 months.”

Now Burundi, which had taken a different approach in its post-conflict government, is thinking of adopting Rwanda’s ways. Or re-adopting, I should say: It was illegal to discuss ethnicity in Burundi at one point, as well, but the agreement that brought (relative) peace to the country in 2000 included a power-sharing mechanism that would divide national positions between the country’s ethnic groups. But it’s time for the country to go beyond ethnic politics, its Senate president said in Kigali last week.