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Background

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Pre-colonial kingdoms and origins of Hutu, Tutsi and Twa

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Main article: Origins of Hutu, Tutsi and Twa
Human skulls at the
Nyamata Genocide Memorial Centre
Part of a series on the
Rwandan genocide
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Events
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The earliest inhabitants of what is now Rwanda were the Twa, a group of aboriginal pygmy hunter-gatherers who settled in the area between 8000 BC and 3000 BC and remain in Rwanda today.[1][2] Between 700 BC and 1500 AD, a number of Bantu groups migrated into Rwanda, and began to clear forest land for agriculture.[3][2] Historians have several theories regarding the nature of the Bantu migrations: one theory is that the first settlers were Hutu, while the Tutsi migrated later and formed a distinct racial group, possibly of Cushitic origin.[4] An alternative theory is that the migration was slow and steady from neighboring regions, with incoming groups bearing high genetic similarity to the established ones[5] and integrating into rather than conquering the existing society.[6][2] Under this theory, the Hutu and Tutsi distinction arose later and was not a racial one, but principally a class or caste distinction in which the Tutsi herded cattle while the Hutu farmed the land.[7][8] ). It is worthwhile to mention that the word Tutsi was originally used to describe the status of "a person rich in cattle’", and later progressed to become "the term that referred to the elite group as a whole’".[9] The Hutu, Tutsi and Twa of Rwanda share a common language and are collectively known as the Banyarwanda.[10]

The population coalesced, first into clans (ubwoko),[11] and then, by 1700, into around eight kingdoms.[12] One of the kingdoms, the Kingdom of Rwanda, ruled by the Tutsi Nyiginya clan, became increasingly dominant from the mid-eighteenth century[13] and expanded through a process of conquest and assimilation,[14] achieving its greatest extent under the reign of King Kigeli Rwabugiri. Rwabugiri expanded the kingdom west and north[15][13] and initiated administrative reforms; these included ubuhake, in which Tutsi patrons ceded cattle, and therefore privileged status, to Hutu or Tutsi clients in exchange for economic and personal service,[16] and uburetwa, a corvée system in which Hutu were forced to work for Tutsi chiefs.[15] Rwabugiri's changes deepened the socio-economic and power divisions between the Hutu and Tutsi.[15]

Colonial era

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Photograph of King's palace in Nyanza, Rwanda depicting main entrance, front and conical roof
A reconstruction of the King of Rwanda's palace at Nyanza

The Berlin Conference of 1884 assigned the territory to Germany[17] and began a policy of ruling through the Rwandan monarchy; this system had the added benefit of enabling colonization with small European troop numbers.[18] European colonists, convinced the Tutsi had migrated to Rwanda from Ethiopia, believed the Tutsi were more Caucasian than the Hutu and were therefore racially superior and better suited to carry out colonial administrative tasks.[19] King Yuhi V Musinga[20] welcomed the Germans, whom he used to strengthen his rule.[21] Belgian forces took control of Rwanda and Burundi during World War I, and the country was formally passed to Belgian control by a League of Nations mandate in 1919.[22]

The Belgians initially continued the German style of governing through the monarchy, but from 1926 began a policy of more direct colonial rule in line with the system used in the Belgian Congo.[23][24] They simplified the chieftaincy system, reducing its numbers and concentrating it in the hands of Tutsi,[25] extended the scale and scope of uburetwa,[25] and oversaw a land reform process by the Tutsi chiefs, in which grazing areas traditionally under the control of Hutu collectives were seized and privatised, with minimal compensation.[26] In the 1930s, the Belgians introduced large-scale projects in education, health, public works, and agricultural supervision.[27] The country was thus modernised but Tutsi supremacy remained, leaving the Hutu disenfranchised and subject to large scale forced labour.[28] In 1935, Belgium introduced identity cards labelling each individual as Tutsi, Hutu, Twa or Naturalised. While it had previously been possible for particularly wealthy Hutu to become honorary Tutsi, the identity cards prevented any further movement between classes.[29] The Catholic Church became increasingly important in Rwanda, as the Belgian government relied on the clergy's local knowledge; many Rwandans became Catholics as a means of social advancement.[30]

Revolution and Hutu-Tutsi relations after independence

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Main article: Rwandan Revolution

After World War II, a Hutu emancipation movement began to grow in Rwanda,[31] fuelled by increasing resentment of the inter-war social reforms, and also an increasing sympathy for the Hutu within the Catholic Church.[32] Catholic missionaries increasingly viewed themselves as responsible for empowering the underprivileged Hutu rather than the Tutsi elite, leading rapidly to the formation of a sizeable Hutu clergy and educated elite that provided a new counterbalance to the established political order.[32] The monarchy and prominent Tutsi sensed the growing influence of the Hutu and began to agitate for immediate independence on their own terms.[31] In 1957, a group of Hutu scholars wrote the "Bahutu Manifesto". This was the first document to label the Tutsi and Hutu as separate races, and called for the transfer of power from Tutsi to Hutu based on what it termed "statistical law".[33]

On 1 November 1959, a Hutu sub-chief, Dominique Mbonyumutwa, was attacked in Kigali by supporters of the pro-Tutsi party. Mbonyumutwa survived, but rumours began spreading that he had been killed.[34] Hutu activists responded by killing Tutsi, both the elite and ordinary civilians, marking the beginning of the Rwandan Revolution.[35] The Tutsi responded with attacks of their own, but by this stage the Hutu had full backing from the Belgian administration who wanted to overturn the Tutsi domination.[36][37] In early 1960, the Belgians replaced most Tutsi chiefs with Hutu and organised mid-year commune elections which returned an overwhelming Hutu majority.[36] The king was deposed, a Hutu dominated republic created, and the country became independent in 1962.[38]

As the revolution progressed, Tutsi began leaving the country to escape the Hutu purges, settling in the four neighbouring countries Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Zaire.[39] These exiles, unlike the Banyarwanda who migrated during the pre-colonial and colonial era, were regarded as refugees in their host countries,[40] and began almost immediately to agitate for a return to Rwanda.[41] They formed armed groups, known as inyenzi (cockroaches), who launched attacks into Rwanda; these were largely unsuccessful, and led to further reprisal killings of Tutsi and further Tutsi exiles.[41] By 1964, more than 300,000 Tutsi had fled, and were forced to remain in exile for the next three decades.[42] Pro-Hutu discrimination continued in Rwanda itself, although the indiscriminate violence against the Tutsi did reduce somewhat following a coup in 1973, which brought President Juvenal Habyarimana to power.[43]

At 408 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,060/sq mi), Rwanda's population density is among the highest in Africa. Rwanda's population had increased from 1.6 million people in 1934 to 7.1 million in 1989, leading to competition for land. Historians such as Gérard Prunier believe that the 1994 genocide can be partly attributed to population density.[44]

Rwandan Civil War

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Main article: Rwandan Civil War
Close up profile picture of Paul Kagame, seated at the 2009 World Economic Forum
Paul Kagame, commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front for most of the Civil War

In the 1980s, a group of 500 Rwandan refugees in Uganda, led by Fred Rwigyema, fought with the rebel National Resistance Army (NRA) in the Ugandan Bush War, which saw Yoweri Museveni overthrow Milton Obote.[45] These soldiers remained in the Ugandan army following Museveni's inauguration as Ugandan president, but simultaneously began planning an invasion of Rwanda through a covert network within the army's ranks.[46] In October 1990, Rwigyema led a force of over 4,000[47] rebels from Uganda, advancing 60 km (37 mi) into Rwanda under the banner of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).[48] Rwigyema was killed on the third day of the attack,[49] and France and Zaire deployed forces in support of the Rwandan army, allowing them to repel the invasion.[50] Rwigyema's deputy, Paul Kagame took command of the RPF forces,[51] organising a tactical retreat through Uganda to the Virunga Mountains, a rugged area of northern Rwanda.[52] From there, he rearmed and reorganised the army, and carried out fundraising and recruitment from the Tutsi diaspora.[53]

Kagame restarted the war in January 1991, with a surprise attack on the northern town of Ruhengeri. The RPF captured the town, benefiting from the element of surprise, and held it for one day before retreating to the forests.[54] For the next year, the RPF waged a hit-and-run style guerrilla war, capturing some border areas but not making significant gains against the Rwandan army.[55] In June 1992, following the formation of a multiparty coalition government in Kigali, the RPF announced a ceasefire and began negotiations with the Rwandan government in Arusha, Tanzania.[56] In early 1993, several extremist Hutu groups formed and began campaigns of large scale violence against the Tutsi.[57] The RPF responded by suspending peace talks and launching a major attack, gaining a large swathe of land across the north of the country.[58] Peace negotiations eventually resumed in Arusha; the resulting set of agreements, known as the Arusha Accords, were signed in August 1993 and gave the RPF positions in a Broad-Based Transitional Government (BBTG) and in the national army.[59][60] The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), a peacekeeping force, arrived in the country and the RPF were given a base in the national parliament building in Kigali, for use during the setting up of the BBTG.[61]

Hutu Power movement

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In the early years of Habyarimana's regime, there was greater economic prosperity and reduced violence against Tutsi.[43] Many hardline anti-Tutsi figures remained, however, including the family of the first lady Agathe Habyarimana, who were known as the akazu or clan de Madame,[62] and the president relied on them to maintain his regime.[63] When the RPF invaded in 1990, Habyarimana and the hardliners exploited the fear of the population to advance an anti-Tutsi agenda[64] which became known as Hutu Power.[65] A group of military officers and government members founded a magazine called Kangura, which became popular throughout the country.[66] This published anti-Tutsi propaganda, including the Hutu Ten Commandments, an explicit set of racist guidelines, including labelling Hutu who married Tutsi as "traitors".[67] In 1992, the hardliners created the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (CDR) party, which was linked to the ruling party but more right wing, and promoted an agenda critical of the president's alleged "softness" with the RPF.[68]

Following the 1992 ceasefire agreement, a number of the extremists in the Rwandan government and army began actively plotting against the president, worried about the possibility of Tutsi being included in government.[69] Habyarimana attempted to remove the hardliners from senior army positions, but was only partially successful; akazu affiliates Augustin Ndindiliyimana and Theoneste Bagosora remained in powerful posts, providing the hardline family with a link to power.[70] Throughout 1992, the hardliners carried out campaigns of localised killings of Tutsi, culminating in January 1993, in which extremists and local Hutu murdered around 300 people.[57] When the RPF resumed hostilities in February 1993, it cited these killings as the primary motive,[71] but its effect was to increase support for the extremists amongst the Hutu population.[72]

From mid-1993, the Hutu Power movement represented a third major force in Rwandan politics, in addition to Habyarimana's government and the traditional moderate opposition.[65] Apart from the CDR, there was no party that was exclusively part of the Power movement.[73] Instead, almost every party was split into "moderate" and "Power" wings, with members of both camps claiming to represent the legitimate leadership of that party.[73] Even the ruling party contained a Power wing, consisting of those who opposed Habyarimana's intention to sign a peace deal.[74] Several radical youth militia groups emerged, attached to the Power wings of the parties; these included the Interahamwe, which was attached to the ruling party,[75] and the CDR's Impuzamugambi.[76] The youth militia began actively carrying out massacres across the country.[77] The army trained the militias, sometimes in conjunction with the French, who were unaware of their true purpose.[76]

  1. ^ Chrétien 2003, p. 44.
  2. ^ a b c Mamdani 2002, p. 61.
  3. ^ Chrétien 2003, p. 58.
  4. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 16.
  5. ^ Luis, J. R.; et al. (2004). "The Levant versus the Horn of Africa: Evidence for Bidirectional Corridors of Human Migrations". American Journal of Human Genetics 74 (3): 532–544. doi:10.1086/382286. PMC 1182266. PMID 14973781. (Errata)
  6. ^ Mamdani 2002, p. 58.
  7. ^ Chrétien 2003, p. 69.
  8. ^ Shyaka, pp. 10–11.
  9. ^ Human Rights Watch. "History (HRW Report - Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda, March 1999)". www.hrw.org. Retrieved 2015-09-15.
  10. ^ Mamdani 2002, p. 52.
  11. ^ Chrétien 2003, pp. 88–89.
  12. ^ Chrétien 2003, p. 482.
  13. ^ a b Chrétien 2003, p. 160.
  14. ^ Dorsey 1994, p. 38.
  15. ^ a b c Mamdani 2002, p. 69.
  16. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 13–14.
  17. ^ Appiah & Gates 2010, p. 218.
  18. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 25.
  19. ^ Bruce D. Jones, Peacemaking, S. 17 f; Carsten Heeger, Die Erfindung, S. 23–25.
  20. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 23–24.
  21. ^ Chrétien 2003, pp. 217–218.
  22. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 25–26.
  23. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 26.
  24. ^ Chrétien 2003, p. 260.
  25. ^ a b Prunier 1999, p. 27.
  26. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 28–29.
  27. ^ Chrétien 2003, pp. 276–277.
  28. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 35.
  29. ^ Gourevitch 2000, pp. 56–57.
  30. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 31–32.
  31. ^ a b Prunier 1999, p. 43.
  32. ^ a b Prunier 1999, pp. 43–44.
  33. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 45–46.
  34. ^ Gourevitch 2000, pp. 58–59.
  35. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 48–49.
  36. ^ a b Prunier 1999, p. 51.
  37. ^ Gourevitch 2000, p. 60.
  38. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 53.
  39. ^ Mamdani 2002, pp. 160–161.
  40. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 63–64.
  41. ^ a b Prunier 1999, pp. 55–56.
  42. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 62.
  43. ^ a b Prunier 1999, pp. 74–76.
  44. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 4.
  45. ^ Kinzer 2008, p. 47.
  46. ^ Kinzer 2008, pp. 51–52.
  47. ^ Melvern 2004, p. 14.
  48. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 94–95.
  49. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 95–96.
  50. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 96.
  51. ^ Melvern 2000, pp. 27–30.
  52. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 114–115.
  53. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 117–118.
  54. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 120.
  55. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 135.
  56. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 150.
  57. ^ a b Prunier 1999, pp. 173–174.
  58. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 174–177.
  59. ^ Prunier 1999, pp. 190–191.
  60. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 187.
  61. ^ Dallaire 2005, pp. 126–131.
  62. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 85.
  63. ^ Melvern 2004, p. 12.
  64. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 108.
  65. ^ a b Prunier 1999, p. 188.
  66. ^ Melvern 2004, p. 49.
  67. ^ Melvern 2004, p. 50.
  68. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 128.
  69. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 166.
  70. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 167.
  71. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 174.
  72. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 180.
  73. ^ a b Prunier 1999, pp. 181 182.
  74. ^ Prunier 1999, p. 182.
  75. ^ Dallaire 2005, p. 129.
  76. ^ a b Prunier 1999, p. 165.
  77. ^ Melvern 2004, p. 25.
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