Word: ruanda
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...about the only consolation that fell to the Belgians was the capture in Africa of two small and scenically beautiful German territories on the eastern border of the vast Belgian Congo. Thereafter, first under a League of Nations mandate and then under the U.N., Belgium continued to rule Ruanda and Urundi through a master tribe of willowy African giants named the Watutsis. The Watutsis had been for four centuries the lords of the Land of the Mountains of the Moon, and there seemed little reason why they should not continue to be so. But last week, this convenient arrangement...
Just where the Watutsis came from, whether from Egypt or Ethiopia, no one can say, but as soon as they made their appearance in what was to become Ruanda and Urundi, their great size (average height: 6 ft. 6 in.) froze the hearts of the tribes already living there. The pygmy Mutwas (average height: 4 ft. 6 in.) quickly became their slaves, and the industrious Muhutus (average height: average) gradually settled down into a kind of serfdom. Though only some 550,000 strong, the tall Watutsis dominated a land of 4,600,000. They dressed themselves in fine togas...
Lord Ever Just. Their feudal rule was especially intricate in Ruanda. At the center stood the great Mwami (king), the absolute Lord Ever Just and descendant of Envoys from Heaven. He ruled through a council of wisemen and a college of Biru (jurists), who were the Keepers of the Fire and of the Royal Drum, the symbol of power...
...their own political party. The Watutsis in turn also organized, began badgering Brussels to give them autonomy at once while they still had the Muhutus firmly under their thumb. The last thing they wanted was for Brussels to push through its new plan to set up elected parliaments in Ruanda and Urundi and turn the two territories into constitutional kingdoms...
...with Their Feet. Last week Belgium announced that it intended to do just that. And at almost the same moment, civil war broke out in Ruanda. A minor quarrel between a subchief of the Muhutus and a group of Watutsis sparked bloody incidents all over the country. Armed bands of Muhutus, feeling the strength of their superior numbers, turned almost every hill into a natural fortress. Though the Muhutus left the Watutsi women and children alone, they showed no mercy to the males: those they did not kill they maimed by chopping off their feet. They put banana plantations...