Belgian rule: occupation, mandate and trusteeship (1916–1962)

1Why this matters

Belgium ruled Rwanda for 46 years, far longer than Germany's 19. Belgian rule changed who held power, how people worked and paid taxes, and even how Rwandans were officially identified. Historians divide it into three periods, each defined by the legal basis on which Belgium ruled.

21. Military occupation (1916–1922)

During the First World War, Belgian colonial troops (the Force Publique) invaded from the Congo and occupied Rwanda between April and May 1916. Until a peace settlement was agreed, Belgian officers governed Rwanda as occupied enemy territory.

In the Orts–Milner Agreement of 1919, Belgium let Britain take the eastern province of Gisaka for a planned railway. Mwami Musinga protested, and Gisaka was returned to Rwanda in 1923.

32. The League of Nations mandate (1922–1946)

A mandate was a former German or Ottoman territory placed by the League of Nations under another power, which was supposed to govern it for the good of its inhabitants. On 20 July 1922 the League gave Belgium the mandate for Ruanda-Urundi (Rwanda and Burundi); the Belgian parliament formally accepted it in 1924. In 1925 Ruanda-Urundi was joined to the Belgian Congo in an administrative union.

The reforms of 1926–1931. Belgium reorganised Rwanda's government to suit colonial rule:

• The old system, in which a hill might have separate chiefs for land, for pasture and for the army, was abolished. Each area now had one chief or sub-chief answerable to the colonial administration.
• Hutu and Twa chiefs were removed. By the 1950s almost all chiefs were Tutsi from a small number of families, while most Tutsi remained ordinary farmers and herders.
• The Mwami lost many of his powers, such as appointing chiefs freely and judging serious cases.
• Forced labour on roads, plantations and anti-erosion work, compulsory crops (cassava and sweet potatoes against famine, coffee for export), taxes paid in money, and whipping as punishment were imposed.

The deposition of Musinga. Musinga resisted Belgian control and refused to become a Christian. In November 1931 the Belgians deposed him and exiled him to the Congo, where he died in 1944. They installed his son Mutara III Rudahigwa.

Identity cards. In the early 1930s (the census of 1933–1934) the administration registered every Rwandan and issued identity documents recording an "ethnic" label: Hutu, Tutsi or Twa. A person's label was fixed for life and passed on through the father.

43. UN trusteeship (1946–1962)

After the Second World War, the United Nations replaced the League. In December 1946 Ruanda-Urundi became a trust territory: Belgium had to prepare it for self-government and accept regular UN Visiting Missions. Changes in this period included:

• a Ten-Year Development Plan (1951–1961) for roads, schools and health;
• a 1952 decree creating advisory councils from sub-chiefdom level up to the High Council of the Country, with the first elections in 1953;
• the abolition of ubuhake (cattle-clientship contracts) by Mwami Mutara III Rudahigwa in 1954.

Worked example: periodising Belgian rule

Question: Place each event in the correct period: (a) Musinga deposed; (b) UN Visiting Missions; (c) Force Publique enters Kigali.

(a) November 1931 falls inside 1922–1946, so the mandate. (b) UN missions only began after the UN took over in 1946, so trusteeship. (c) 1916 is military occupation. Method: fix the three boundary dates (1916, 1922, 1946), then place each event's year between them.

Practice

Solution. A 1919 agreement by which Belgium let Britain take Gisaka, in eastern Rwanda. After protests by Mwami Musinga, Gisaka was returned to Rwanda in 1923.

Solution. Any two of: the three kinds of chief were merged into one chief per area; Hutu and Twa chiefs were removed; the Mwami's powers were cut; forced labour, compulsory crops and money taxes were imposed.

Solution. He resisted Belgian control and refused to become a Christian, so they replaced him with his son, Mutara III Rudahigwa, whom they expected to cooperate.

Solution. Under trusteeship (from 1946) Belgium answered to the United Nations, had to prepare Rwanda for self-government and received UN Visiting Missions. Under the mandate it answered to the League of Nations, which had far weaker oversight.