Anatomy of a Genocide
The Crown, the Church, Ethnicity, & the State in the Rwandan Crisis
by Kenneth W. Gunn-Walberg
How many women, men, and children were killed in Rwanda in the weeks following April 6, 1994? Three quarters of a million, a million, perhaps as few as half a million? What of those mutilated, men minus hands or legs, children bearing marks of the machete, women raped, maimed, and tortured? Why did it happen?
Rwanda is a small country with a population of roughly eight million people. When European explorers seeking the source of the Nile entered Rwanda in the second half of the nineteenth century, they encountered three groups of people with distinct roles. The state was embodied by the king, known as the Mwami, whose symbol was a sacred drum or kalinga. The minority, but dominant element, was that of the Tutsi, who raised cattle. The majority was that of the Hutu, predominantly agricultural, and the Twa, a sparse pygmoid people.
Societies are given life by myths, and in Rwanda myths have a special importance. One particularly salient myth is:
At the beginning of time, the first king of Rwanda came down from heaven. His name was Kigwa and he was to have three sons—Ga-Twa, Ga-Hutu, and Ga-Tutsi. He asked each to care overnight for a gourd filled with milk.
Ga-Twa became thirsty and drank the milk.
Ga-Hutu fell asleep and knocked the gourd over, spilling the milk.
Ga-Tutsi guarded the milk faithfully and was yet attentive when in the morning Kigwa came back.
Thus everyone’s social status was determined: Ga-Tutsi would be Kigwa’s successor. He and his people would own cattle and be excused from manual labor. Only if they worked for Ga-Tutsi would Ga-Hutu and his people be allowed cattle. Ga-Twa and his people would be allowed no cattle and would be outcasts.
For hundreds of years such was the social reality, and the two major groups lived an interdependent existence under the Mwami, who was considered above ethnicity. Both the Hutu and the Tutsi scorned the Twa as an insignificant but troublesome minority. In contrast, the present-day Mwami, His Majesty, King Kigeli V, believes there is but one people, the people of Rwanda. While they are predominantly Catholic and Christian, Kigeli believes that liberty for others, including his Islamic supporters, must be secured in the future.
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