European colonization and the war and genocides between the Hutu and the Tutsi people of Rwanda had led to the formation of M23, a Tutsi military rebel group that has committed acts of terrorism and human rights violations.
While insurmountable conflict has already been brewing for hundreds of years, all eyes have been on the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Rwanda since the events of last month. M23, a Tutsi military rebel group, has been invading Goma, the largest city in Congo, since November 2022. On January 27th, 2025, the group broke into the women’s ward of a prison in Goma. They raped at least 150 women and burned their bodies alive. Their official capture of Goma quickly followed.
I investigate the purpose and latest news about M23 further in Part 2 of this series. However, historical context is needed first. Outsiders are quick to judge these actions and those who committed them. Yet, when one takes a closer look at the history of Rwanda, hundreds of years of European colonization, war, and multiple genocides illuminate the crisis in Congo and the extremist groups that have formed within it.
A Timeline of Rwandan Colonization and Conflict
10,000 BC-1897: The Kingdom of Rwanda
The indigenous people of Rwanda, the Twa, have lived in the land as early as the Neolithic period. The Tutsi and the Hutu arrived as early as 1000 BC.
Before German and Belgian colonialism, the Tutsi and the Hutu existed as socioeconomic classes as opposed to ethnic groups. The Tutsi customarily acted as the minority nobility and aristocracy, primarily working as pastoralists and warriors. The Hutu were the majority peasant class, primarily working as farmers. The Twa lived as hunter gatherers. They suffered major losses to their environment and way of life with the arrival of the Tutsi and Hutu.
Hutus often lived in serfdom to Tutsi feudal masters through the practice of land patronage, known as Ubuhake. They were subject to harsh taxation and discriminatory judicial practices in the Gacaca, the local justice system.
However, some fluidity existed between these social classes. The Rwandan social ladder based on the acquisition of cattle. If a Hutu was able to obtain cattle, they could become Tutsi through a process called Kwihutura, by permission of the Mwami (king). Subsequently, a Tutsi could become Hutu if they lost their cattle.
Climbing the social ladder was not only a matter of comfort, but, at times, a matter of survival. The Hutu suffered confiscation of property and total massacre of their villages if they attempted to revolt against the Tutsi.
Because of the growing persecution against the Hutu and the impoverishment of the Twa, the stage was set for European colonialism to take advantage of Rwanda’s cultural tension.
1897-1919: German Colonialism
In 1897, Germany claimed Rwanda during a time of social turmoil and unrest due to the death of the Mwami. They favored the Tutsi for their willingness to convert to Roman Catholicism, and believed them to be ethnically closer to Europeans than the Hutu were.
Social Darwinism, was quite a popular theory at the time. It contributed to their admiration for the Tutsi: the Germans attributed Tutsi power to natural selection, and believed themselves to be similar in this respect. Thus, they granted the Tutsi limited dominance over the Hutu.
German rule was largely indirect, due to their interest in the collection of taxes from Rwanda. The implementation of money weakened the socioeconomic significance of cattle and internal trade, thus diminishing social mobility. Taxation forced farmers to switch to internationally tradable goods, creating a dependence on Europe and lessening interdependence between Rwandans.
1919-1957: Belgian Colonialism and Imposed Racial Divisions
In 1919, following World War I, the Treaty of Versailles officially granted Belgian control over Rwanda, and the colonialists began to use oppressive force to change and subjugate Rwanda’s social system. While their colonialist tactics of control were quite similar to those of their German predecessors, the Belgians were much more involved, direct, and aggressive.
The Belgian colonialists used the pseudo-scientific practice of anthropometry to classify the people of Rwanda into three races ranked by their believed ethnic proximity to Europeans: the Tutsi, the Hutu, and the Twa. Like the Germans, they found the Tutsi to be the closest to Europeans out of the three established races.
The Belgians reserved education and job opportunities for the Tutsi, leading to worsened resentment between Rwandans. By 1926, the Belgians had officially implemented these racial divides with the use of identification cards.
Religious Conversion
After the Belgians successfully fuelled the flames of the internal conflict that existed within Rwanda, they began to resume Germany’s efforts of converting Rwandans to Roman Catholicism. The cult of Imana legitimized the Tutsi monarchy, deeming the Mwami as a divine ruler. Therefore, the Tutsi nobility, along with its aristocracy, were the main targets of Belgian missionaries.
In 1931, the Belgians deposed Mwami Yuhi Musinga of the Kingdom of Rwanda for refusing to convert to Roman Catholicism. His son and successor, Mwami Rudahigwa, converted and dedicated the Kingdom of Rwanda to Jesus Christ.
Recognizing the destabilization the Belgians brought to Rwanda, many Abami (plural for Mwami) attempted to reform the social systems that were in place. Mwami Rudahigwa abolished many of the feudalist practices of Ubuhake, redistributing land and cattle in an attempt to reestablish former socioeconomic structures and lessen Tutsi oppression over the Hutu.
1957-1966: Struggle for Independence
By the late 50s, both the Tutsi and the Hutu began to fight for independence from Belgium. However, the Hutu believed they required independence from the Tutsi before they could escape European colonialism.
In 1957, Grégoire Kayibanda published the “Bahutu Manifesto,” sparking the Hutu revolution and solidifying his role as a Hutu leader and liberator. Colonial Belgium and the Catholic Church supported their efforts. The militarization of the Hutu revolutionaries and Belgium’s new loyalty to the Hutu led to the 1959 formation of the Rwandese National Union (UNAR). The UNAR militarized their efforts and called for a constitutional Tutsi monarchy.
Shortly after the formation of the UNAR, Mwami Rudahigwa passed away, likely due to health issues. However, the cause of his death is unidentifiable as an autopsy was not performed. The Tutsi accused the Hutu of assassinating him, and attempted to assassinate Kayibanda in response.
Soon after, Dominique Mbonyumutwa, a Hutu sub-cheif who was acting as the interim president of Rwanda during its transition from monarchy to republic, was killed by a group of Tutsi extremists.
At this, violence broke out at explosive rates, and the Hutu killed up to 100,000 Tutsi in the 1959 Hutu Revolution, often referred to as the “wind of destruction.” At least 336,000 Tutsi were exiled or fled to neighboring nations as refugees. In 1960, at the behest of the United Nations, colonial Belgium split their colony into two nations: Rwanda and Burundi. The latter was under the rule of a Tutsi Mwami.
Two Short-Lived and Tumultuous Independences
In 1962, Belgium granted full independence to both Rwanda and Burundi. Between 1963 and 1966, Burundi suffered constant transfers of power between many monarchs and prime ministers.
Kayibanda, who was now the President of the Republic of Rwanda, attempted to organize some semblance of peace. He was able to establish formal international relations and Hutu education and civil service. However, he set a strict quota for Tutsi education and civil service and continued the use of identification cards. Unemployment was high and President Kayibanda’s government proved to be rather inefficient and possibly corrupt.
All the while, violence raged on in both Rwanda and Burundi.
1966-1990: Military Dictatorship
In 1966 Burundi, Crown Prince Charles Ndizeye, with the help of Captain Michel Micombero, overthrew Prime Minister Léopold Biha and dissolved the constitution. Yet less than five months later, Micombero abolished Ndizeye’s monarchy and established a military dictatorship.
In 1973 Rwanda, Juvénal Habyarimana overthrew and assassinated President Kayibanda and established a military dictatorship as well. He dissolved the former government along with its constitution and banned all political activity. He abolished the quota system, which led to the overrepresentation of Tutsi people in professional fields and their subsequent resignation, exile, or flat out murder.
1990-1994: Civil War and Genocide
By 1990, a full out Civil War had developed in Rwanda. Habyarimana formed the Tutsi majority Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and invaded Rwanda. Three years of war and multiple failed cease-fires followed, until the 1994 assassination of Habyarimana. There is suspicion that the Hutu killed Habyarimana, as many Hutu political groups and figures had publicly accused him of treachery. Nevertheless, when coupled with the 1972 Burundi genocide of Hutus, Habyarimana’s death was the Hutus’ last straw.
Immediately following Habyarimana’s death, Théoneste Bagosora took power. Within hours of assuming office, he ordered the police, militia, and military to kill all Tutsi and show no mercy to Hutu moderates. Bagosora stationed roadblocks throughout the capital, killing anyone carrying a Tutsi identification card.
The 1994 Rwandan genocide, or the genocide against the Tutsi, claimed up to one million victims. An estimated 94% were Tutsi. Up to 30,000 Twa were even killed after Hutu extremists accused them of aiding the Tutsi. The murder of so many Twa was devastating, as their numbers were already quite low.
The End of the Rwandan Civil War
Finally, the RPF, led by Paul Kagame, gathered Tutsi survivors and Burundi refugees to join its own forces. Kagame took advantage of the instability of the interim Hutu government. It was overly focused on the genocide and failed to defend against RPF offensives, quickly losing territory.
With each territory lost, the morale of the Hutu continued to shrivel until the interim government and many Hutu fled into Congo. After this, Kagame had reclaimed all of Rwanda, save for a base reserved for Opération Turquoise, a United Nations military force.
However, Kagame initiated numerous retribution killings and two wars in Congo when peace could have finally been attainable. He has taken authoritative control over Rwanda: banning oppositional parties, executing or arresting critics, and possibly using electoral fraud to win elections. He is still in power as President of Rwanda to this day.
Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War
Amidst the violence of the Rwandan Civil War, up to 500,000 women were raped.
In 1996, UN Reporter Rene Degni-Segui stated, “rape was the rule and its absence was the exception … rape was systematic and was used as a weapon.”
Hutu propaganda labeled Tutsi women as “sexually available.” Hutu women were often complicit, allowing Tutsi women to be systematically raped multiple times a day.
Many Hutu gathered men suffering from AIDS from hospitals, and formed “rape squads,” using biological warfare to give Tutsi women a slow, painful death. Hutu men often inflicted sexual mutilation in efforts to sterilize and humiliate many Tutsi women and some Tutsi men.
Consolee Nishimwe is a survivor of the Rwandan Genocide. At the age of fourteen, she and her family went into hiding for three months. Her mother and sister survived, but her father and three brothers were savagely murdered. She has been able to overcome vengeful feelings towards the Hutu extremists and has redirected her feelings towards advocating for women’s rights and survivors of genocide.
“We started hearing local radio stations calling Tutsis ‘cockroaches’ and ‘snakes,’ explaining how they were going to kill us […] During the time we were hiding, I was among the many girls who were raped and, unfortunately, I contracted HIV as a result. It was very hard for me. I can’t find words to describe how I felt. I never thought I would be a normal teenager again.”
Consolee Nishimwe
The History of Rwanda Ignites M23
Given the tumultuous history of Rwanda and the extreme trauma endured by the Tutsi during the Rwandan Genocide, the formation of M23 makes sense. But that does not mean their actions are justified. Read more about the latest news regarding M23, and the trauma cycles initiated by war, genocide, and European colonization that ignited their actions in Part 2 of this series.
