Written by Aditya
Research Intern,
Jindal Centre for the Global South,
O.P. Jindal Global University, India
Introduction
Rwanda is spread over an area of 26,33k sq. km. Different countries colonized it. From 1894 until 1919, the end of World War 1, Rwanda was a part of the German Empire. Later, it was transferred to Belgium as a part of Germany’s war reparations. The country was marked by sharp ethnical diversity, which was turned into ethnic differences due to the policies of the imperial powers. Hutus formed most of the population (85%), while Tutsis were in the minority (14%), and the Twa community constituted 1% of the population. It has a great diversity of bioclimatic regions due to which there were different ethnic occupations in the past. Before imperialism, Tutsis were mainly cattle herders and Hutus were peasant farmers. They used to share the same language. The split between Hutus and Tutsis occurred not because of class differences but because of economic reasons. As cattle were costlier than crops, Tutsi minority became the local elites.
Ethnic Division by Imperialist Policies
When Belgium took control of Rwanda from Germany, an ethnic Tutsi elite had been the ruling monarchy for quite some time. The imperial powers also developed the Hamitic hypothesis as a part of their “divide and conquer” policy. This was used for their administrative effectiveness. According to this theory, Tutsis were a ‘superior’ community as they thought to have belonged to the Hamitic group of tribes, descended from Ham, a mythological figure from Biblical traditions. Thus, an explanation was made for their dominance because they had descended from a common source as the ‘superior’ white races of Europe. The non-dominant communities, like Hutus, were not even distantly related to Biblical traditions, and therefore, they were considered sub-humans. The Europeans regarded Hutu and Tawa as racially inferior to the Tutsi. Therefore, the imperial powers, i.e., Germany and Belgium, converted Tutsi into a symbol of colonial prestige and they wanted all local chiefs to be Tutsis. Therefore, by the end of Belgium’s rule, 43 of 45 chiefs and 549 of 559 sub-chiefs were Tutsis. During the colonial period, Tutsis dominated the governance system. They gained control of the traditional landholding, including Hutus’ lands. Grazing lands were privatized to favour the relatively rich Tutsi community. All the schools, administration and the army were organized around the racial supremacy of Tutsis.
Identity Cards- Epitome of Division
In 1933, Belgium also started issuing identity cards based on the person’s ethnicity. It indicated the Tutsi, Hutu or Twa ethnicity of each person. The identity cards’ “ethnicity” of future generations was determined patrilineally. When Belgium started issuing these cards, there were certain issues, as everyone’s ethnicity was not determined. They came up with a solution to introduce a means-based system of ethnic identification. Any man with more than ten cattle was classified as Tutsi, and any man with less than ten cattle was identified as Hutu or Twa. So, these identities, which existed in the past too but were quite fluid, became more rigid and solidified under colonial rule.
Independence: Change Of Course
In the 1950s, some Hutus started demanding equality, which led to the Hutu revolution. There was an uprising on 1 November 1959 following the rumour of the death of a Hutu leader by some Tutsi extremists. This led to large-scale violence, which resulted in the killing and fleeing of Tutsis. Hutus carried out a coup on the first of January 1961, with the tacit approval of Belgium, officially disposed of the Tutsi king. Rwanda became a republic, and an all-Hutu national government was formed. After gaining independence in 1962, during the first general elections, Hutus easily got the majority and formed the government because of being in the majority. After getting into administration, Hutus gradually started gaining and consolidating power and then facilitated widespread discrimination against Tutsis. The Hamitic hypothesis, used by the imperial powers to recognize Tutsis as a ‘superior’ race, was now used by Hutus to consider Tutsis as of outside origin instead of a native ethnic group and alienated them. Gregoire Kayibanda presided over the republic, imposing an autocratic rule. Intermittent violence between Hutus and Tutsis became a common feature of post-independent Rwanda. Many Tutsis fled to neighbouring countries like Congo and Uganda. There were various events of violence between 1962 and 1990.
Ethnic Cleansing- 1994 Violence
Tutsis in Rwanda organized and formed a militant group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The government of Rwanda fought a war with the RPF that lasted for three years, 1990-1993. President Habyarimana entered into a peace agreement with the RPF enforced by the UN to end the civil war. But all the plans for peace were shattered when, on 6 April 1994, a plane carrying the President was shot down. On the one hand, Hutus blamed Tutsis for breaking the agreement and on the other hand, Tutsis blamed Hutus for shooting the plane to get an excuse for the violence. On 7 April, the violence began in which the Hutu community went to each city and village to kill Tutsis with guns and machetes. They organized their own radio channel, RTLM, to incite hatred and encourage Hutus to kill their own Tutsi neighbours, whom they referred to as “cockroaches”. It is estimated that around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the violence. The UN which already had its peacekeeping force in the country, did nothing to stop the violence. However, after 100 days of violence, on 15 July the RPF was able to secure the country. A transitional government was established with Pasteur Bizimingu, a Hutu, as President and RPF leader Paul Kagame, a Tutsi, as Vice- President. However, all the real power was centred on Kagame.
Conclusion- The Necessary Reflections
It is a proven fact that imperialism has created a lot of issues worldwide. It is reflected in how, for the sake of economic and administrative benefits, Rwanda has reaped off all the resources and was pushed into an ethnic divide from which it is still dealing. Even after independence, the divide was so deeply rooted in the society that it led to the ethnic cleansing of one community by the other. Also, when the country was dealing with the existential crisis, the United Nations and the so-called world powers who were previously colonizers were simply watching the whole event unfolding. The effects of imperialism felt so harsh that the country is still struggling with political imbalances and economic inequalities, ethnic tensions and human rights abuses, restrictions of freedom of expression & suppression of political opposition. Understanding the historical human rights abuses because of political imperialism is essential to recognize the ongoing impact of these actions of the Global South. The Rwanda case study sheds light on some of the common challenges and issues the countries face. Promoting human rights and establishing a just and equitable world order would require addressing the effects of imperialism and working towards a fair and inclusive development.
References:
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Beauchamp, Z. (2014, April 10). Rwanda’s genocide — what happened, why it happened, and how it still matters. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2014/4/10/5590646/rwandan-genocide-anniversary
Rwanda. (n.d.). College of Liberal Arts. https://cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust-genocide-education/resource-guides/rwanda#:~:text=It%20was%20during%20colonial%20rule,the%20foundation
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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author (s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Jindal Centre for the Global South or its members.
Global South Studies Series 