Rwanda+History

Rwanda History


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According to local belief, Tutsi cattle breeders began arriving in the area from the Horn of Africa in the 15th century and gradually subjugated the Hutu inhabitants. The Tutsis established a monarchy headed by a //mwami// (king) and a feudal hierarchy of Tutsi nobles and gentry. Through a contract known as //ubuhake//, the Hutu farmers pledged their services and those of their descendants to a Tutsi lord in return for the loan of cattle and use of pastures and arable land. Thus, the Tutsi reduced the Hutu to virtual serfdom. However, boundaries of race and class became less distinct over the years as some Tutsi enjoyed few advantages over the Hutu. In 1899, the //mwami// submitted to a German protectorate without resistance. Belgian troops from Zaire drove the small number of Germans out of Rwanda in 1915 and took control of the country.

An increasingly restive Hutu population, encouraged by the Belgian military, sparked a revolt in November 1959, resulting in the overthrow of the Tutsi monarchy. Two years later, the Party of the Hutu Emancipation Movement (PARMEHUTU) won an overwhelming victory in a United Nations-supervised referendum.

During the 1959 revolt and its aftermath, more than 160,000 Tutsis fled to neighboring countries. The PARMEHUTU government, formed as a result of the September 1961 election, was granted internal autonomy by Belgium on Jan. 1, 1962. A June 1962 United Nations General Assembly resolution terminated the Belgian trusteeship and granted full independence to Rwanda (and Burundi) effective July 1, 1962.

Gregoire Kayibanda, leader of the PARMEHUTU Party, became Rwanda's first elected president, leading a government chosen from the membership of the directly elected unicameral National Assembly. Peaceful negotiation of international problems, social and economic elevation of the masses, and integrated development of Rwanda were the ideals of the Kayibanda regime. Relations with 43 countries, including the United States, were established in the first 10 years. Despite the progress made, inefficiency and corruption began festering in government ministries in the mid-1960s.

Rwanda has always been plagued by ethnic-based strife. A peace accord in mid 1993 temporarily ended most of the fighting, but there was a massive resumption of civil warfare in April 1994. During the three-month-long conflict, an attempted Tutsi genocide killed more than 500,000 people, and another 2 million fled as refugees to neighboring countries.

In April 2000, Rwanda's Vice President Paul Kagame became the nation's first Tutsi President, and still leads the country today.

A new constitution was adopted in Rwanda in 1995, but the country still struggles from the devastating effects of the 1994 war.

As of October 2003, Rwanda's refugee population consisted of 28,000 Congolese Tutsis at two camps in Kibuye and Byumba provinces. In 2001, the government began implementation of a grass-roots, village-level justice system, known as //gacaca//, to address the enormous backlog of cases. As of October 2003, some 80,000 individuals remained in detention in Rwanda, awaiting //gacaca// trials on charges relating to the 1994 genocide.

This information came from [|compassion] Revised April 27, 2011