In 1934, the Belgian colonial regime in Rwanda employed forceful, and also deceptive tactics to segregate the Rwandan populace. They initiated ethnic categorizations in the name of some myths of their own, which sought to alter the national identity of Abanyarwanda, who shared a common language, lived harmoniously in the same villages, intermarried, and believed in the same God “Imana y’I Rwanda”
With racially prejudiced notions in mind, the Belgian authorities subjected Rwandans to degrading assessments based on their physical attributes. Belgian ethnologists meticulously scrutinized skulls, heights, noses, mouths, and ears, employing these surface-level characteristics to arbitrarily categorize individuals as either Hutu or Tutsi. This dehumanizing practice bore a disturbing resemblance to the racial profiling methods used by the Nazis and laid the foundation for the infamous “Manifesto of the Bahutu.” This text was authored by two missionaries, Canon Ernotte and Father Arthur Dejemeppe, under the close supervision of Bishop Perraudin.
Subsequently, Bishop Perraudin’s influence extended to Grégoire Kayibanda, who, in 1959, made the fateful decision to veer away from forming a Democratic Party alongside Prosper Bwanakweri. Instead, he embraced a party (Parmehutu) steeped in the racist ideologies of the colonial era. Little did he comprehend the devastating repercussions this choice would unleash upon his political heirs and, more significantly, upon the Rwandan populace. Today, individuals following Kayibanda’s path, such as Victoire Ingabire (IVU) and her associates in FDU-Inkingi and DALFA Umurinzi, remain entangled in these racist delusions imposed by European officials and Catholic missionaries.
It is essential to acknowledge that, individuals like IVU who still harbor ambitions of resurrecting the divisive Hutu/Tutsi ideology, fully aware of the unspeakable suffering it wrought – over one and a half million lives lost, more than two million refugees, and hundreds of thousands left sick and wounded in a population of approximately 7.5 million people – they are, beyond any doubt, promoters of cruelty and inhumanity. Their actions deserve unrelenting condemnation, day after day.
Presently, Rwandans are one and take pride in acknowledging their genuine national identity (Ndi Umunyarwanda), an awakening made feasible solely through the arrival of the Rwandan Patriotic Front on the Rwandan political scene, especially after ending the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
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