Political and Military Organisation of Precolonial Rwanda

1One king, three chiefs on every hill

Imagine a hill in 19th-century Rwanda. The family farming its slopes might answer to three different chiefs at once: one for the fields, one for the pastures and one for the army in which its men served. All three had been appointed by the court, and none of them could do the others' job. That was not confusion. It was a design, and it helps to explain why Rwanda became one of the most centralised kingdoms in Central and East Africa.

This lesson analyses how power was organised at the top (the Mwami, the queen mother and the abiru), how it reached every hill (the chiefs), and how the kingdom raised and used its armies.

2Power at the centre

The Mwami. The king was treated as a semi-divine being, responsible for the prosperity of the country. His symbol was the dynastic drum Kalinga. His power rested on more than a hundred large estates spread across the kingdom, with banana groves and many cattle; the court moved between them. He was head of the government, the army and the royal rituals, and the final judge in disputes.

The queen mother (umugabekazi). She managed the royal household and took a leading part in court politics. When a king came to the throne young, she could govern for him: Queen Nyiratunga ruled for the boy king Yuhi IV Gahindiro, and Kanjogera held real power for Yuhi V Musinga (Lesson 2). On her son's accession she took a new name made of nyira- ("mother of") and his regnal name; only the mothers of kings named Mutara were called Nyiramavugo.

The abiru. This hereditary council of ritualists kept the ubwiru and advised the king where ritual and the supernatural powers of kingship were involved. They proclaimed each new king according to that code. Some historians think they could also depose an "unworthy" king; how far their power really went is still debated.

The three formed a system of balances: the king's power was great, but it was shared with the queen mother and bound by the rules kept by the abiru.

3Power on the hills: the chiefs

Below the king sat the great chiefs, abatware b'intebe, who spent much of their time at court. In the regions, power was divided between three chiefs of equal rank, all under the authority of the king:

Below them were hill chiefs and neighbourhood chiefs, and at the base the lineages and households. Ordinary disputes were settled locally through gacaca, a traditional system of community justice; cases that reached the top went to the Mwami.

4Analysis: why this system strengthened the king

• Divide and rule. With three chiefs sharing each region, no single chief controlled land, cattle and soldiers together, so none could easily rebel. Each also watched the others.
• Appointment, not inheritance. Chiefs were appointed by the court and could be removed. Under Kigeli IV Rwabugiri land was increasingly granted to chiefs he appointed instead of passing down through lineages. Loyalty to the king, not birth alone, kept a chief in office.
• Tribute tied the hills to the centre. Produce and cattle flowed up the chain, and the king redistributed wealth to reward loyal followers.
• Ideology. A sacred king, a dynastic drum and the court poetry of Lesson 1 made obedience a matter of belief as well as force.

The weaknesses were the mirror image: the system depended on the king's personal authority, so a disputed succession, as in 1895 to 1896, could shake the whole structure; and the growing demands of chiefs on the people they governed bred resentment, especially in recently conquered regions.

5The armies

The kingdom's military organisation was one of its great strengths.

• Universal membership. Every adult man belonged to an army unit (ingabo), whatever his social category. Each unit had a proud name, such as Abashakamba ("the tough ones"), Imbanzamihigo ("those praised first") or Inzirabwoba ("the fearless ones").
• Training. Young men were trained in the itorero, and young women in the ibohero, both taught in Kinyarwanda. Youths at court training as intore had to learn the court's historical poems and to compose poetry of their own.
• Frontier camps. Under Cyirima II Rujugira, military camps were set up during a long conflict with Burundi; later, camps of warriors guarded vulnerable borders. Under Yuhi IV Gahindiro each camp had at least two leaders, each commanding around 120 fighters, and sons replaced their ageing fathers in the same unit.
• Reform under Rwabugiri. Kigeli IV Rwabugiri introduced conscription and new permanent units.
• Leaders from every social category. Alexis Kagame recorded army chiefs of Hutu origin, such as Bikotwa, whom Rwabugiri put at the head of two divisions, Inzirabwoba and Indirira. Twa fighters were also greatly valued.

The armies did more than fight. They defended the borders, raided cattle from neighbours, looked after royal herds attached to them, taught the court's poetry and traditions, and bound people from different regions and social categories into one community: in war, Hutu, Tutsi and Twa were first of all Banyarwanda facing a common enemy.