500 Francs

The 1998 series marked a deliberate reconstruction of Rwandan currency infrastructure in the aftermath of the genocide, during which the existing money supply had been severely disrupted — looting of the Banque Nationale's reserves and the collapse of normal commerce had left the pre-1994 note stock badly compromised. Giesecke & Devrient, by then operating from their Leipzig facility following German reunification, had become a preferred supplier for central African issuers rebuilding from political rupture.

Pick 26 replaced the earlier 500-franc notes that had circulated through the catastrophic events of 1994. The security specification is modest by later standards — watermark and a single security thread — reflecting budget constraints typical of post-conflict monetary reconstruction rather than any technical shortcoming on G&D's part.