Rwanda  /ruːˈɑːndə/ or  /ruːˈændə/, officially the Republic of Rwanda (Kinyarwanda: Repubulika y'u Rwanda; French: République du Rwanda), is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.7 million (2012). Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. All of Rwanda is at high elevation, with a geography dominated by mountains in the west, savanna in the east, and numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons every year.

The population is young and predominantly rural, with a density among the highest in Africa. Rwandans form three groups: the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa. The Twa are a pygmy people who descend from Rwanda's earliest inhabitants, but scholars disagree on the origins of and differences between the Hutu and Tutsi; some believe that they are derived from former social castes, while others view them as being races or tribes. Christianity is the largest religion in the country, and the principal language is Kinyarwanda, which is spoken by most Rwandans. Rwanda has a presidential system of government. The President is Paul Kagame of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Rwanda has low corruption compared with neighbouring countries, but human rights organisations allege suppression of opposition groups, intimidation, and restrictions on freedom of speech. The country has been governed by a strict administrative hierarchy since precolonial times; there are currently five provinces, which are delineated by borders drawn in 2006.

Bernard Lugan (born 1946 in Meknes, Morocco) is a contemporary French historian and Associate Professor of African history at Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, in France. He's also teaching at the French Institute of Defense Studies. He has an academic rank as "Maître de conférences". A specialist of Africa since 1971, he authored many books on the African continent. He was the editor of "L'Afrique réelle".

He studied at the Paris X University Nanterre and edited a thesis (third cycle doctorate) naming "L'Économie d'échange au Rwanda de 1850 à 1914". He also has lived for an extended time in Africa, especially in Rwanda where he has conducted significant research, and has taught African History at the National University of Rwanda. In 1982, he authored a thesis for a state doctorate naming "Entre les servitudes de la houe et les sortilèges de la vache : le monde rural dans l'ancien Rwanda".

Lugan's notable work includes several books on Southern Africa, Morocco and Rwanda including "History of South Africa", When Africa was German and African Legacy, Solutions for a Community in Crisis where he describes how individualism hasn't replaced preexisting loyalties to clans, groups, and tribes. In this book, he rejects what he calls "the victimization paradigm," which says colonial exploitation and the slave trade brought Africa to its knees, rejects solutions based on Western guilt and claim that a correct interpretation of history is necessary for Africans to "build a future on a more solid foundation" and save an African continent ravaged by famine, economic disaster and civil war. He notably proposes a redrawing of national African frontiers in accordance with ethnic groupings and promotes a new type of democracy, more rooted in those native groupings rather than on Western "one man one vote" system.