The Political Inquirer

During a recent discussion on the Rwandan genocide, I made the point that possibly it is best to ask Africans about Africa.  So that is what I did.  Ritah Nyamwiza is one of the older orphans I met while in Rakai district in Uganda.  She is in college at the moment, extremely articulate and an exceptionally fine example of adversity strengthening character.  She is a real class act and, should I ever get the chance to start up my African outsourcing shop (to take business from the Indians), she’d be the first I’d contact about being the Customer Services Manager.

Below is her response to my request for some clarification on her view of the Rwandan genocide.  It certainly was enlightening to me to the extent of historical and European influence had on the massacre in the 1990s.  I stand corrected on that and surprised at the Tutsi provocation:

I do not know whether you knew this but there was an earlier genocide in Rwanda; this was in the 1960′s when the Hutus butchered the tutsis and the tutsis fled the country. Many went to Uganda, others to Burundi and still others to Tanzania. This Genocide was as a resulst of conflicts between the colonial masters then and that was the Belgians who supported the Hutu and the French who supported the Tutsi.

Rwanda initially was under the rule of a King and this King was a Tutsi meaning that the tutsi were royalty and the Hutu were the peasants. The Belgians sowed seeds of tribalism when they conviced the Hutu that they could end their mistreatment under the hands of the Tutsi, this resulted into the first genocide.

In the 1990′s the Tutsi in Uganda decided that they wanted to go back to their country. Many had taken up leadership roles in Uganda and others had joined the army. They asked for permission from the then president Habyarimana and he told them that they could only go back as civilians and he gave them land in a national park to settle in. He was fearing an overthrow. Unfortunately the Tutsi did not agree with this because they wanted to reunite with their families; they decided to attack Habyarimana. At the same time Habayarimana went for  a meeting in Arusha and on his way back his plane was bombarded. This started off the chaos. The Hutu decided to kill the prime minister and every Tutsi in key positions because they had heard of the approaching Tutsi militia. This is what spread into the blood bath.