The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

epresenting him. The God of Rwandans could not be depicted. The
Rwandans never had idols, and never prayed to any other god. They all
prayed the same way throughout the country. To impose another God
meant transforming everything about their beliefs and their religion.
The Catholic Church built schools, and only children of chiefs had access
to school education. This educational system was already an extension
of the colonial programme. These young people were trained to become
assistants to the colonial administration. They were taken out of their
families and brought together in boarding schools, the better to instil in
them the values of the colonialists. The church also established religious
education in seminars, in search of priests. Until very recently, for a child
to be admitted to school, parents had to present his or her baptism card.
That indirectly made Christianity compulsory.
1926-1935: Administrative reorganization of Rwanda: The Resident
Georges Mortehan abolishes the triple administrative hierarchy;
the position of chief of the army is abolished; those of chiefs of farmland
and of pastureland are assigned to the territorial administrator,
always a Belgian, and a key post in the colonial administration.
1931-1935: The Rwandan people are subjected to a unique kind of “census”,
a survey carried out at the level of sub-chiefdoms, and applied
to registered adult men. Here, the administration imposes as a criterion
for membership in the Tutsi “ethnic group” the ownership of at
least ten head of cattle. The rest of the population is assigned to the
“ethnic groups” Hutu or Twa, depending on their occupation. The
identity booklet carrying the assignment of each citizen to an “ethnic
group” is now introduced in Rwanda. It has the immediate effect of
freezing every Rwandan citizen into the particular ethnicity of Hutu,
Tutsi or Twa, in contradiction to the sociological reality of the country.
Previously, a Rwandan has been able to change status according to
certain criteria. A Hutu could become a Tutsi, or vice versa.
Oct. 17, 1943: Baptism of the young king Rudahigwa Mutara III, followed
by his chiefs and sub-chiefs, which earns him the favour and
support of the Catholic Church. The same year, the Belgian administration
replaces all Hutu chiefs with Tutsi chiefs appointed by the king.
It is a complete upheaval which divides the Rwandans.
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