Rwanda -- History
Pre-Colonial
History Twa, Hutu and Tutsi are
the three peoples who inhabit Rwanda.
The Twa, who number less than 1%
percent of the population and are
pygmies. They preferred living in
the forests where they lived by
hunting and gathering. The Twa gave
way when the Hutu arrived in the
region and moved deeper into the
forests.
The
origins of the Hutu is unclear probably
arriving in what is present day
Rwanda and Burundi from the 5th
to the 11th century. The were small-scale
agriculturists whose social structure
was based on the clan. Kings, or
Bahinza, ruled over limited clan
groups. The Hutu believed that the
Bahinza could cause rain, protect
crops from insects and cattle from
decease. The Bahinza derived their
power and status from this belief.
The Tutsi first migrated into the
area around the 14th century. It
was probably not one large, sudden
invasion but a slow process that
was mostly peaceful. The Tutsi used
their ownership of cattle, advanced
combat skills to achieve economic,
political, and social control over
the Hutu. Eventually, land ownership
was taken away from the Hutu and
became the property of the Tutsi
king, or Mwami.
Over
time, Hutu-Tutsi relations took
the form of a client-patron contract
called the ubuhake. At first, the
agreement meant that Hutu could
use Tutsi cattle in exchange for
personal and military service. Over
time ubuhake became a feudal-type
class system through which land
and cattle, and therefore power,
were in the hands of the Tutsi minority.
The Hutu indentured themselves to
a Tutsi lord giving him agricultural
products and personal service in
exchange for the use of land and
cattle.
At
the apex of the class system was
the Tutsi king, the Mwami. The Mwami
was considered to be of divine origin.
A myth tells of three children born
in heaven fell to earth by accident,
and one of these children, Kigwa,
founded the most powerful Tutsi
clan. The Mwami trace their lineage
to this divine founder. In the middle
of the 16th century, Mwami Mibambwe
I Mutabazi was able to centralize
the monarchy and reduced the power
of neighboring chiefs. Early in
the 19th century, Mwami Kigeri IV
established the borders that were
in place when the Germans arrived
in 1894.
European
Exploration and Annexation Several
European explorers came close to
Rwanda in the 19th century, but
none penetrated into Rwanda. Sir
Richard Burton and John Hanning
Speke in 1855 passed close to Rwanda
in their search for the source of
the Nile. Henry Morton Stanley,
in 1876, also came into this region
but did not go into Rwanda.
The
1885 Conference of Berlin declared
the area that later became Rwanda
and Burundi would be under German
influence and control. It was 9
years after this conference that
the first European traveled into
Rwanda. This was the German Count
von Götzen who later became
the governor of German East Africa.
Rwanda
and Burundi were located at the
juncture of three empires and became
the object of a diplomatic fight
for possession. The Belgians and
Leopold II, the Germans, and the
British wanted possession of the
territory. However, by 1910, and
agreement handed control of Rwanda
and Burundi to the Germans.
German
Colonial Rule The Germans ruled
indirectly through the political
structure created by the Mwami.
The Germans also conducted military
operations against Hutu chiefs in
the North that had not come under
the Mwami's control. In the 1920s
and 1930s the Germans ordered extensive
coffee planting; they began to collect
tax in cash, not in agricultural
products in order to force the plantation
of coffee. At his time the first
missionaries also arrived in Rwanda.
The White Fathers established missions
and schools as early as 1903.
During
World War I, the Belgians gained
control of Rwanda and Burundi. After
the war, on August 23, 1923,the
League of Nations mandated Rwanda
and Burundi under Belgian supervision.
The
Belgian Administration Under Belgian
administration, the power of the
Mwami was curtailed. They modified
the ubuhake system and eliminated
the paying of tribute. With the
formation of the United Nations
the Belgian mandate changed. The
Belgians retained trusteeship but
were required to integrate the Rwandans
into the political process. This
lead to limited political representation
in the government. In 1952, Belgian
implemented the Ten-Year Development
Plan, a series of broad socioeconomic
reforms in order to promote political
progress and social stability; however,
this program subsequently granted
the Tutsi minority political, economic
and social domination over the Hutu
majority. In 1959, after seven years
of escalating civil unrest between
the Hutu and Tutsi, the Belgian
administrators declared a state
of emergency and called in ground
forces and paratroopers from the
Congo to restore order. In the same
year, administrators called for
the new election of communal councils
in hopes of diffusing the imbalance
of Tutsi power. With the support
of the UN General Assembly, the
Trusteeship Council recommended
that the future success of the region
depended on the formation of a single
united Rwandan-Burundi State. Following
the premature election of 1960,
Belgian authorities granted de facto
recognition to the republican Rwandan
State in order to avoid more social
unrest. Belgium, according to the
UN General Assembly, was still accountable
for fulfilling their Trusteeship
agreement and was asked to supervise
elections to ensure the establishment
of stabile transitional governments
in both Burundi and Rwanda. However
in April of 1962, both countries
decided that a political union was
impossible due to the unresolvable
long-standing historical antagonism
between their two republics.On June
27, 1962, the General Assembly voted
to terminate the Belgian Trusteeship
Agreement, and days later Rwanda
attained independence.
Post-Independence:
In 1962 Rwanda became independent,
with Gregoire Kayibanda, leader
of PARMEHUTU, as president. A new
constitution was ratified. Soon
after, in 1963, the Tutsi invaded
Rwanda but were repelled. In retaliation,
over 12,000 Tutsis were massacred
by the Hutu, while countless Tutsis
fled the country. The following
year, the economic union of Rwanda
and Burundi was terminated; Rwanda
introduced its own national unit
of currency, the Rwanda franc. In,
1969 Kayibanda was reelected to
a second four-year term. Kayibanda's
presidency came to an end in 1973
when he was overthrown in a bloodless
coup led by Major General Juvenal
Habyarimana. The constitution of
1962 was partially suspended, and
the National Assembly dissolved.
At the Bujumbura Conference of 1974,
Zaire, Burundi and Rwanda agreed
to cooperative action in defense
and in economic affairs. In 1975,
Habyarimana launched Le Movement
Revolutionaire National pour le
Development (MRND) as the nation's
sole political party and he was,
in single-party legislative balloting,
reelected president in 1983 and
1988.
The
Civil War began in 1990 when between
5,000 and 10,000 rebel Tutsi invaded
Rwanda from neighboring Uganda;
Habyarimana and the rebels agreed
to a cease-fire on March 29, 1991.
On June 6, 1991, the president signed
a new Constitution legalizing opposition
parties. The MRND changes its name
to the Mouvement Républicain
National pour la Démocratie
et le Développement (MRNDD).
In October Dr. Sylvestre Nsanzimana,
the former deputy Secretary-General
of the OAU, was appointed to the
new post of prime minister. On November
7, seven parties were legalized.
On December 30, the new Parti Démocrate
Chrétien (PDC) joined the
MRNDD in a coalition government
formed by Dr. Nsanzimana. The leading
opposition parties, MDR, PSD, LP
and PSR, refused to participate
in talks concerning their cooperation
in the coalition unless a prime
minister was elected from a party
other than the MRNDD.
On
February 11, 1992President Habyarimana
began new talks with the newly legalized
opposition parties, now numbering
12, on forming a multiparty government.
In March the MDR, PL, and PSD reached
an agreement with the president
on forming "a transitional
government," on entering into
debate on the issue of the National
Conference, on general elections,
on the refugee problem, and on opening
talks with the RDF. The government
signed an agreement at Arusha on
July 14 and a cease-fire to begin
on July 31. On September 18, a joint
document was signed at Arusha on
a political settlement that including
power sharing among the parties.
Agreement on presidential power
in the proposed transition period
was reached on October 12. With
several political matters unsettled,
a partial protocol was signed on
October 31, providing for an executive
cabinet headed by a prime minister
and a president with reduced powers.
After a three-day meeting of the
ministers of the Interior and Justice
of Rwanda and Burundi, the two sides
agreed on November 24 on several
measures including the control of
refugee activities, actions against
arms trafficking, the completion
of border demarcation and appealed
to the media for restraint.
Even
though, in 1993, the government
and the RPF sign an agreement on
power sharing at Arusha on January
10, ethnic violence broke out in
February, resulting in hundreds
of deaths among both Hutus and Tutsis.
With Tanzania's mediation, the government
and the RPF agreed to a new cease-fire
beginning March 9; the accord further
stipulated the departure of foreign
troops from Rwanda and their replacement
by a UN-OAU force. A UN Security
Council resolution reached in June
established the Uganda-Rwanda Observer
Mission (UNOMUR). The Rwandan government
and the RPF signed a new peace agreement
on August 4 at Arusha. Hopes for
peace were soon disappointed, as
obstacles to peace arose. Opposition
to the deal grew among the Hutu
majority, initially led by the CDR,
which refused to participate in
the proposed interim assembly. The
CDR set up a broadcasting station,
Radio/TV Libre des Mille Collines
(RTLM), which denounced the Arusha
agreement. The UN Security Council
voted on October 5 to establish
a new force for Rwanda in accordance
with the Arusha agreement.
When
President Juvenal Habyarimana and
the President of Burundi were killed
on their return to Kigali from Dar
es Salaam in 1994, ethnic violence
erupted again with a vengeance.
Allegedly, their aircraft was shot
down from the ground, by persons
still unknown. A short time after
the crash, organized murders began
in Kigali, mostly of Hutu opponents
of the MRNDD and CDR, but included
many Tutsis as well. The government
fled to Gitarama and the RPF approached
the capital. Thousands were killed
in Kigali by April. The killing
of Tutsis then spread to other parts
of Rwanda and continued unabated
for weeks. The Rwandan government
forces were no match for the RPF
and were forced steadily to retreat.
In
mid-June, the French government
announced that 2,500 French troops
would be sent into Rwanda to set
up a `safe zone' in the south-west,
with the goal of preventing further
deaths. The Security Council approved
the French intervention, called
Operation Turquoise, on June 22.
French forces first landedin Zaire,
then crossed into Rwanda and set
up the `safe area' on the south-western
Zaire border. By this time it was
estimated that half a million people
had been killed in a period of only
a few weeks On July 4, the RPA completed
the capture of Kigali and also took
Butare, Ruhengeri, and Gisenyi.
Except for the French-occupied zone,
the RPF now controled all of Rwanda,
and France promised to hand over
the zone to UN forces.
On
July 17, the RPF announced that
one of its leaders, Pasteur Bizimungu,
a Hutu, had been chosen to be President
of Rwanda. The next day, the RPF
declared that the war was over.
Though the fallen regime continued
to maintain that it was still Rwanda's
rightful government and pledged
to renew the war, a measure of stability
was gained when other countries
quickly recognized the new government.
On
November 25, a new Transitional
National Assembly of 70 representatives
was inaugurated in Kigali in accordance
with the Arusha accord. The MRNDD
was excluded, its seats distributed
among other parties.
Early
in December, a panel of three African
jurists, Atsu Koffi Amega of Togo,
Haby Dieng of Guinea, and Salifou
Fomba of Mali, presented a study
of the murder of Tutsis to the UN.
It concluded that "[o]verwhelming
evidence points to the fact that
the extermination of Tutsi by the
Hutu was planned months in advance.
The massacres were carried out mainly
by Hutus in a determined, planned,
systematic and methodical manner,
and were inspired by ethnic hatred."
It also argued that there were "serious
reasons to conclude that Tutsis
also carried out massacres, summary
executions, violations of international
humanitarian law and crimes against
humanity with regard to Hutus."
Early
in1995, on January 7, President
Bizimungu met with the presidents
of Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and
Zambia, and the Prime Minister of
Zaire to discuss Rwanda's domestic
difficulties and the problem of
refugees.
On
January 11 there was an attack on
the RPA by the army of the former
government. In March about 2.5 million
Hutu refugees remained in Zaire,
Burundi, and Tanzania, either from
reluctance or inability to return.
New refugees were still leaving
Rwanda to join them. Hutu refugees
were unwilling to return to Rwanda
even when thousands left Burundi
camps in late March, for fear that
they would be attacked by Tutsis
in Burundi, where an internal crisis
had arisen in which Tutsi extremists
were thought to be closely allied
to the RPF leadership in Kigali.
On
February 22, the UN Security Council
decided that the International Tribunal
for Rwanda should convene at Arusha;
it called on governments throughout
the world to arrest suspects. Later,
the OAU Committee for Conflict Prevention,
Management and Resolution met at
Tunis on April 20-21 and called
for the rapid institution of a tribunal.
Within Rwanda, judicial proceedings
began; a massive number of arrests,
as high as 23,000, quickly clogged
an inadequate legal and penal system.
Many detainees died in custody from
illness and overcrowding, at rates
as high as 300 per week. In April
1995, a new Rwandan political organization,
the Rassemblement pour le Retour
de la Democrate au Rwanda (RRD,
was inaugurated at Bukavu in Zaire,
claiming to represent the Hutu refugees.
It maintained that it was distinct
from the MRNDD, but its leadership
was kept secret. In December, the
International Tribunal on Rwanda
made its first formal indictments
for genocide, charging eight unnamed
local officials in Kibuye with the
crime.
Genocide
trials began in Rwanda in December
1996. By June 31, 1997, 142 cases
had been tried. Eight defendants
were acquitted and 61 sentenced
to death. International
organizations denounced the trials
as unfair, mainly on grounds that
most defendants did not have access
to adequate legal representation
and had been unable to cross-examine
witnesses. In late 1996, the Alliance
des Forces Democrates pour la Liberation
du Congo-Zaire (AFDL) led by Laurent
Kabila broke up the main Rwandan
refugee camps in Zaire. In May 1997,
Kabila assumed power in Zaire, changing
the country's name to the Democratic
Republic of Congo. At the end of
the year, RPA and Angolan troops
remained in Rwanda.
