Pre-Colonial Rwanda
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.
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.
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.