Word: rwanda
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...dying while the world watches [WORLD, Aug. 5]? I'm sure the U.N. is doing its best, but clearly its best isn't good enough. There are always committees to fight for Irish rights, build up Sarajevo, talk peace with Jewish and Arab leaders. It's a shame that Rwanda and Burundi are torn apart, yet seem to be ignored. FRIEDA M. GYGENAAR Stellenbosch, South Africa Via E-mail...
Your article correctly states that under a monarchy both Rwanda and Burundi "had achieved a measure of cohesion rare in Africa at the time." It fails, however, to draw the obvious conclusion that disintegration occurred in 1969 when Belgium, not the Rwandan people, expelled His Majesty King Kigeli V, and that reintegration is contingent on his restoration. Interestingly, last month the King addressed supporters in Montreal who consisted of Hutu and Tutsi joined in a common cause. KENNETH GUNN-WALBERG Philipsburg, Pennsylvania...
...corpses sprawled in doorways have become almost routine in this part of the world in the past two years. The July 20 massacre of 330 Tutsi civilians in Burundi and subsequent Tutsi-led army coup are just the latest turns in a horrifying spiral of violence that has engulfed Rwanda, Burundi and eastern Zaire in a conflict that often seems to defy explanation. Yet, like most wars, the struggle between Hutu and Tutsi is the product of unique influences that beat in the heart of each combatant as he sets about his deadly work...
Independence ushered in a new, bloodier era. With the dissolution of the monarchies and removal of an external Belgian military force, the struggle for power became more overtly ethnic at all levels of society. At this point, Rwanda and Burundi took different paths. In 1959 Rwandan Hutu launched a murderous uprising and forced the creation of a majority-controlled republic, which survived until 1994. In Burundi, by contrast, the Tutsi remained in control. Both armies were dominated by the ruling tribe and did not hesitate to suppress uprisings by the opposing ethnic group. Peasant revolts in Burundi...
Ironically, diplomatic intervention in both countries in the early 1990s triggered the bloodiest massacres to date. A U.N.-backed campaign to secure power sharing for Rwanda's Tutsi minority provoked Hutu extremist politicians to conceive a plan that would rid the country of all Tutsi, even the young. To incite peasants into murdering their neighbors, Hutu leaders played on historical fears of a return to Tutsi hegemony and capitalized on a uniquely hierarchical social structure, in which peasants obey their chiefs however chilling the command. Competition for land in what has traditionally been Africa's most densely populated region further...