Kagera River

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Countries Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
Source confluence near Lake Tanganyika
 - location Lake Victoria



The river has featured prominently in the histories of the countries it runs through, particularly Rwanda. In 1894, German Gustav Adolf von Götzen crossed the Kagera at Rusumo Falls, beginning the Rwandan colonial era; and in 1916, during World War I, the Belgians defeated the Germans, entering Rwanda by the same route. The river gained international notoriety in 1994 for carrying bodies from the Rwandan Genocide into Lake Victoria, causing a state of emergency to be declared in areas of Uganda, where these bodies eventually washed up.


The Kagera rises in Burundi and flows into Lake Victoria. It is the largest single inflow into the lake, contributing approximately 6.4 billion cubic metres of water a year (about 28 per cent of the lake's outflow).[2] The Kagera is formed by the confluence of the Ruvuvu and the Nyabarongo, close to the northernmost point of Lake Tanganyika.[3] It forms parts of the Burundi–Tanzania, Rwanda–Tanzania, Burundi–Rwanda, and Tanzania–Uganda borders. It lends its name to Akagera National Park in northern Rwanda, as well as to the Kagera Region of Tanzania. On the river are the Rusumo Falls, an important crossing point between Rwanda and Tanzania. It is near the town of Rusumo.


During the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, the Kagera was used to dispose of corpses as thousands of Tutsis and Hutu political moderates were murdered on the river banks.[4] The river brought the massacred bodies into Lake Victoria, creating a serious health hazard in Uganda.[5]



  1. ^ Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, ISBN 0486256677
  2. ^ Rangeley, p. 54
  3. ^ Dumont, p. 341
  4. ^ January, p. 83
  5. ^ Lorch, Donatella (21 May 1994), "Thousands of Rwanda Dead Wash Down to Lake Victoria", The New York Times, retrieved 26 February 2010 


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Coordinates: 0°56′41″S 31°46′36″E﻿ / ﻿0.944722°S 31.7767°E﻿ / -0.944722; 31.7767