President Bush to Welcome Prime Minister Harper of Canada

Technorati Tags: President Bush and White House or Prime Minister Harper and Canada

President Bush to Welcome Prime Minister Harper of Canada

President Bush will welcome Prime Minister Harper of Canada to the White House on July 6, 2006. The President looks forward to this second official meeting with the Prime Minister, following the productive discussion they began in Cancun, Mexico on March 30-31. The visit highlights the special relationship between the United States and Canada as close friends and neighbors. The two leaders will discuss a range of bilateral and global issues, and explore areas where there are opportunities to deepen our bilateral ties and advance our shared global agenda.

# # # For Immediate Release, Office of the Press Secretary, May 26, 2006

A land of vast distances and rich natural resources, Canada became a self-governing dominion in 1867 while retaining ties to the British crown. Economically and technologically the nation has developed in parallel with the US, its neighbor to the south across an unfortified border.

Canada's paramount political problem is meeting public demands for quality improvements in health care and education services after a decade of budget cuts. Canada also faces questions about integrity in government following revelations regarding a corruption scandal in the federal government that has helped revive the fortunes of separatists in predominantly francophone Quebec. CIA Fact Book

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President Bush to Welcome President Paul Kagame of Rwanda

Technorati Tags: President Bush and White House or President Paul Kagame and Republic of Rwanda or President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and African Growth and Opportunity Act or PEPFAR and AGOA

President Bush to Welcome President Paul Kagame of the Republic of Rwanda, Visit by President Kagame of Rwanda

President Bush will welcome President Paul Kagame of the Republic of Rwanda to the White House on Wednesday, May 31, 2006. President Bush looks forward to discussing our excellent bilateral relations, including Rwanda's successful participation in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)

and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The leaders will also discuss Rwanda's strides toward reconciliation, democracy, and inclusiveness, and the important role of women in advancing these vital objectives. The United States' role in Rwanda's economic growth and development through trade, investment, and assistance will also be discussed. President Bush will take this opportunity to recognize Rwanda's contributions to stability in the Great Lakes region, as well as its peacekeeping contributions in Sudan.

# # # For Immediate Release, Office of the Press Secretary, May 25, 2006

In 1959, three years before independence from Belgium, the majority ethnic group, the Hutus, overthrew the ruling Tutsi king. Over the next several years, thousands of Tutsis were killed, and some 150,000 driven into exile in neighboring countries. The children of these exiles later formed a rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and began a civil war in 1990. The war, along with several political and economic upheavals, exacerbated ethnic tensions, culminating in April 1994 in the genocide of roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

The Tutsi rebels defeated the Hutu regime and ended the killing in July 1994, but approximately 2 million Hutu refugees - many fearing Tutsi retribution - fled to neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and the former Zaire. Since then, most of the refugees have returned to Rwanda, but about 10,000 remain in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo and have formed an extremist insurgency bent on retaking Rwanda, much as the RPF tried in 1990.

Despite substantial international assistance and political reforms - including Rwanda's first local elections in March 1999 and its first post-genocide presidential and legislative elections in August and September 2003 - the country continues to struggle to boost investment and agricultural output, and ethnic reconciliation is complicated by the real and perceived Tutsi political dominance.

Kigali's increasing centralization and intolerance of dissent, the nagging Hutu extremist insurgency across the border, and Rwandan involvement in two wars in recent years in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to hinder Rwanda's efforts to escape its bloody legacy. CIA Fact Book

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