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In the late 13th century, pastoral Tutsi tribes arriving from the south conquered the agricultural Hutu and hunter-gatherer
Twa inhabitants of Rwanda and established a feudal kingdom. In the 1600s, the Tutsi King Ruganza Ndori extended the area of
the kingdom’s rule to cover most of modern Rwanda. A unified state was established by King Kigeri Rwabuguri during the 19th
century, but this lasted only until 1890 when Rwanda was annexed as a province of German East Africa during the European ‘Scramble
for Africa’. Belgian forces occupied the country in 1916 and, as part of the post-World War I settlement, Belgium was granted
the right to govern the territory of Rwanda-Urundi under a League of Nations mandate. The Belgians sponsored the continued
dominance of the Tutsi minority at the expense of the Hutu but were forced, in the early 1960s, to concede internal autonomy
and then independence under majority Hutu rule.
Intercommunal violence between Hutus and Tutsis continued in the years after independence. Many Tutsis fled into exile in
neighbouring Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania during this period and a Tutsi Government-in-exile was established in the Ugandan
capital, Kampala. Relations between the Rwandan Hutu Government and both Uganda and Tanzania have been difficult ever since
independence; however, as a landlocked country needing access to nearby ports, Rwanda has been judicious in its attitude.
In 1973, Major-General Juvénal Habyarimana led a bloodless coup and established a Hutu-dominated military Government. A few
years later, under his direction, the National Revolutionary Movement for Development was founded. For the next two decades
this was the country’s sole political party and was again dominated by Hutus. During most of this period, relations between
the Hutu and Tutsi were reasonably stable. However, in October 1990 Tutsi exiles styling themselves as the Rwandan Patriotic
Front attacked from across the Ugandan border. The outcome was inconclusive and after three years of sporadic fighting, the
two sides agreed an uneasy truce in August 1993. Relations between the two communities were now very poor. Hutu extremists
inside and outside the Government had decided upon a ‘final solution’ for the Tutsis and other political opponents. It required
a single trigger to precipitate the appalling events of 1994.
This was a plane crash which killed President Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart and fellow Hutu, Cyprien Ntaryamira;
both were returning from a regional summit in Tanzania. The precise circumstances of the crash remain a mystery but some people
believed that the crash had been caused deliberately by those seeking to bring down the Government. Encouraged by official
pronouncements and broadcasts, armed militias known variously as interahamwe (roughly ‘those who struggle together’) or impuzamuganbi (‘those of the same mind’), set about the systematic murder of their ethnic and political opponents, largely Tutsis. The international
community, and especially the United Nations, proved extremely reluctant to intervene. There was particular opposition from
the Americans, who were still scarred by their unfortunate experience in Somalia, and the French, who covertly backed the
Habyarimana Government. The best estimate is that around 800,000 people were killed.
From their bases in Uganda, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took the only available course of action and launched a full-scale
invasion. After a few weeks, the RPF entered a largely deserted capital: the bulk of the Hutu militia had escaped to refugee
camps in the neighbouring Democratic Republic where they mingled with terrified civilians escaping the carnage and the fighting,
and established a provisional Government which has since consolidated its position and controls much of the country of Congo
and Tanzania. Within a few years, they were able to reorganise and pose a significant military threat to the Rwandan Government.
From this point onwards, the Rwandan conflict became embroiled in the wider and more complicated war under way in the neighbouring
Democratic Republic of Congo. The new Rwandan Government believed the Kabila regime in the DRC supported the Hutu exile forces
and in 1998, they intervened on the side of rebels fighting the Kabila Government. After four years, with a stalemate in the
field, they withdrew under a South African-brokered settlement. (Other foreign forces, including Ugandan, Namibian and Zimbabwean
troops also pulled out.) The problem of the Hutu militia remains a major worry for the Rwandan Government and in December
2004 Rwandan troops entered into Eastern DR Congo reigniting hostilities.
Domestically, the Government faced a formidable task of reconstruction and reconciliation. The architects of the 1994 genocide
have been (and still are being) tried before a UN- run tribunal based in Tanzania. Lesser offenders are dealt with in Rwanda.
The Government, led by former army chief Paul Kagame, has a fairly impressive record under extremely difficult circumstances.
The country relies heavily on western aid to sustain its economy. However, there are signs of an increasingly dictatorial
attitude on the part of the government, manifested in the presidential and parliamentary elections held in the summer of 2003:
amid numerous allegations of intimidation and ballot rigging, Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Front won both polls with a
huge majority. Given the Tutsi dominance of the RPF, there is a clear danger of a future repeat of the ethnic violence which
has disfigured Rwanda since independence.
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Overview 
