Historical

The Diocese of Cyangugu was established by His Holiness Pope John Paul II on November 14, 1981. It was entrusted to His Excellency Monsignor Thaddeus Ntihinyurwa January 24, 1982, as Bishop Residential until his appointment as Archbishop of Kigali, March 25, 1996, and Apostolic Administrator of the Cyangugu until the January 18, 1997, when the Holy Father appointed his successor, His Excellency Archbishop John Damascene Bimenyimana, currently Bishop of the Diocese of Cyangugu.

Location

The Diocese of Cyangugu has a living area of 1125 square km, the rest being covered Nyungwe forest and water of Lake Kivu. The total population of 626,621 inhabitants. Catholic Christians are among 283,372 inhabitants.

There are currently 12 parishes spread across two districts, and Rusizi NYAMASHEKE part of the Western Province of Rwanda. It lies on the border with Democratic Republic of Congo to the west and the south by Burundi.

Economic Situation

Fourteen years after the 1994 genocide which plunged Rwanda into mourning, and the Diocese of Cyangugu in particular, the population began to recover economically through farming (98%) on small fields arranged on the many hills.

However, these are the fields operated from father to son and without fertilizer organic or chemical inputs, resulting in a continuous loss of farmland.

The poverty of the general population comes from all these above factors, but also on the pastoral sector remains largely underdeveloped due to scarcity of pasture, which is why families remain in the physical and financial concerns.