Resistance in Rwanda, 1897–1931

1Gahunga, 1 April 1910

Rukara rwa Bishingwe was a powerful chief in the north of Rwanda, head of the Barashi clan, at odds both with the royal court and with members of his own family. He had asked Father Paulin Loupias, head of the Catholic mission at Rwaza, to take his side in the dispute; the missionary refused, and in one heated argument slapped him. On 1 April 1910 they met again and the quarrel ended in violence: Rukara's men killed Father Loupias.

The German administration could not tolerate the killing of a missionary. It sent a punitive expedition that destroyed crops and homes, but Rukara escaped and joined the armed opposition in the north. Was he defending his authority against a meddling foreigner, settling a family feud, or resisting colonial rule? Many northerners came to see him as a hero of resistance. This lesson analyses the resistance in Rwanda between 1897 and 1931, and why it is not a simple story.

2Why the north resisted

• A frontier never fully absorbed. Much of the north had been brought under the court only recently, and after Rwabugiri's death in 1895 parts of it were largely autonomous again.
• A king many saw as a usurper. Yuhi V Musinga came to power through the Rucunshu coup; his rule was nicknamed Cyiimyamaboko, "it is force that rules". Rival claimants found followers in the north.
• A double burden. With German backing, the court's notables imposed more control, higher taxes and demands for warriors and workers, and could call on German force against anyone who resisted.
• Spiritual leadership. Nyabingi mediums could unite people across lineages and give them courage.

3Three leaders

Muhumuza (Nyiragahumuza). A famous Nyabingi medium who claimed that her son Biregeya was the rightful heir of Kigeli IV Rwabugiri. Some Rwandan sources identify her with Muserekande, a widow of Rwabugiri; others give her a different name, so her identity is still debated. She urged followers to pay tribute to her instead of to Musinga's court. At the court's request the Germans arrested her in 1908 and imprisoned her at Bukoba. She escaped in July 1911 and rallied supporters from Mpororo, on the Uganda border, promising that Nyabingi would turn European bullets into water. German and British forces joined against her, and she was captured on 29 September 1911; the British held her in Kampala until her death in 1945.

Basebya. A former bodyguard of Mibambwe IV Rutarindwa who commanded Twa warriors. After the Rucunshu coup he moved to the Rugezi marsh, east of Lake Burera, and raided the surrounding lands. In 1905 he refused to pay tribute and defeated a royal expedition sent against him; the court turned to the Germans. He became one of Muhumuza's lieutenants.

Rukara rwa Bishingwe. A loyal follower of Rwabugiri who fell out of favour after Rucunshu and tried to rule his province of Mulera almost as a king. After the death of Father Loupias in 1910 he was hunted by the Germans and joined the rising of 1912.

4Ndungutse's rising, January to May 1912

In 1912 a man called Ndungutse claimed to be the rightful king, a son of the royal line; modern historians generally doubt the claim, but many people believed it. He set up a court with royal regalia and drew together a wide coalition: peasants with grievances, northern communities wanting autonomy, supporters of a rival royal line, Basebya's fighters and, from January 1912, Rukara. At the height of his power he held the lands between Lakes Ruhondo and Burera and the Rugezi marsh, and his followers raided near Kigali.

At first the German officer in charge, Lieutenant Eberhard Gudowius, held back, since the rising targeted Musinga rather than the Europeans. In April 1912 he changed course. In early April Ndungutse handed Rukara over to a German post. On 8 April a German and royal force of about 60 askari, 30 police and some 3,000 warriors attacked Ndungutse's main base; at least 50 insurgents were killed, and Ndungutse disappeared: some said he was shot, others that he fled to Uganda. A punitive campaign then burned and plundered northern communities, bringing destruction and hunger. Rukara was sentenced to death at Ruhengeri on 18 April 1912 and killed; Basebya too was executed.

Results. The north lost much of its old autonomy and came under tighter control by the court, backed by German force; the historians Ian and Jane Linden judged that "Musinga's throne had been saved by German might". Northerners long remembered and resented the campaign. During the First World War, when the Germans withdrew, the court lost control of the north again, and the Belgians later helped it to retake the region.

5Analysis: resistance against whom?

Historians read these risings in different ways. The Lindens called Ndungutse's movement a "legitimist rebellion" intertwined with "a wide range of peasant grievances". Alison Des Forges observed that while people differed on why they believed Ndungutse was legitimate, they agreed on why Musinga was not. Mahmood Mamdani saw the movements of Muhumuza and Ndungutse as phases of one protest movement that began after Rwabugiri's death. All agree on one point: because the colonial power and the court had become partners, resisting one meant fighting the other.

6Passive and cultural resistance

Resistance did not end with the defeats of 1911 to 1912. Nyabingi beliefs survived the arrest of their leaders, and possessions by the spirit continued afterwards. At the court, Musinga himself refused to be baptised. The colonial power abolished umuganura in 1925 and drove its last ritualist, Gashamura, into exile; six years later, as the Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy puts it, "King Yuhi Musinga, a fervent defender of Rwandan culture and identity was also chased out of the country". The Belgians deposed him in November 1931, partly because he refused baptism (Unit 4).