Although some people have denied that Batutsi are nearing creation of a Tutsi Empire initially covering Burundi, DRC, Rwanda and Uganda and later other countries in middle Africa (from Indian Ocean Coast to Atlantic Ocean Coast) and Horn of Africa and possibly Southern Africa there is sufficient evidence to prove them wrong (Alec Russel 2000; Joseph Weatherby 2003 and EIR Special Report 1999). Namibia joined the 1998/99 war waged by Rwanda and Uganda against DRC because the leaders there were not sure what would follow after the defeat of DRC forces.
To understand the background to the formation of Tutsi Empire one needs to trace efforts to restore the short-lived Mpororo kingdom and expand it into a Tutsi Empire and why Museveni has talked a lot about Pan-Africanism and the weaknesses of balkanization in East Africa although he prefers balkanization for Uganda which he has sliced into over 100 economically unviable districts.
Mpororo kingdom was formed by a breakaway Batutsi group from Rwanda in mid-seventeenth century (1650s) and lasted less than or 100 years. Mpororo covered parts of present-day northern Rwanda, most of southwest Ankole (Ntungamo) and parts of Kigezi bordering Ankole (S. R. Karugire 1980; G. N. Uzoigwe 1982 and Christopher Ehret 2002).
When Mpororo kingdom disintegrated from internal decay, some Bahororo returned to Rwanda (Christopher Ehret 2002) and others fled to Rujumbura around 1800 while the rest stayed in Ankole (Paul Ngorogoza 1998 and G. N. Uzoigwe 1982). The Mpororo parts in Uganda were merged into Ankole and Kigezi districts. The name Mpororo went out of use and didn't figure on any map of Uganda until after Museveni and NRM/NRA captured power in 1986.
However, Karugire observes: "But her [Mpororo] people, dispersed as they were, have tenaciously remained Bahororo in everything but geographical terminology on the map of Uganda whose absence does not seem to have any impression upon them. During the colonial period, right up to independence, petition upon petition was to be lodged with the colonial officials for the creation of a Mpororo district based on the reconstitution of their former kingdom" (S. R. Karugire 1980). The demand for a separate district in Ankole for Bahororo is confirmed by Nelson Kasfir (Victor A. Olorunsola 1972). However, Bahima didn't accept the request and Bahororo didn't get a separate district in Ankole. They didn't forget and made worse by Bahima refusing Museveni to lead DP into 1980 elections and refusing to vote for him in a parliamentary contest with Sam Kutesa in the same year (some believe Museveni denied Bahima a kingdom as payback for refusing to support him in 1980 elections).
Uganda's political contest based on majority rule pushed Bahima and Bahororo out of power in Ankole as Bairu benefited from their numerical majority and got elected to political offices at national and district levels, sidelining Bahima and Bahororo who had dominated the political stage since pre-colonial days.
At the same time political events in Rwanda resulted in the 1959 Social Revolution that saw political power transferred to majority Bahutu who for centuries had served as slaves or servants of Batutsi. Some 200,000 Batutsi fled Rwanda and half of them trekked to Uganda through northern Rwanda a hostile area occupied by Bahutu (David Reynolds 2000) instead of fleeing to nearby Burundi and Congo where they speak French as in Rwanda. Some commentators have reasoned that these refugees were descendants of Bahororo who returned to Rwanda when Mpororo kingdom disintegrated. They decided to flee to Uganda where they would rejoin their Bahororo kith and kin and escape harsh refuge conditions.
When British officials argued that Ankole and Kigezi were overpopulated and Tutsi refugees should be settled elsewhere in Uganda Kangaho a DP member of Legislative Council (LEGCO) from Ankole objected and insisted there was enough room to accommodate Tutsi refugees and their cattle. By the end of 1963 some 35,000 refugees with 15,000 head of cattle were received in Uganda. "One-third of these refugees appear to have settled with relatives in Uganda and never became a serious charge on the Uganda Government" (B. L. Jacobs 1965).
A subsequent drought in Ankole drove many Batutsi and Bahima and their cattle out of the areas and moved into Buganda and beyond. On humanitarian grounds they were given temporary space until the situation improved in Ankole and Rwanda and they would return with their cattle to where they came from. They haven't moved back yet and they arrived in mid 1960s.
Bahororo from Rwanda who fled to Uganda as Tutsi refugees after they lost political power to Hutus joined Bahororo in Ankole who had lost political power to Bairu. Both groups began plotting together the restoration of Tutsi or Tutsi/Bahororo dominance in the Great Lakes region. It is reported that Kagame was consumed by "undefined anger" that adversely affected his academic performance at Ntare School (Stephen Kinzer 2008).
While still at Ntare School, Museveni formed an association for the advancement of Batutsi cause. Fully aware that demographics were not on their side they opted for military training to regain their lost glory and power by military means. Museveni was joined by Rwigyema (RIP) and others and later Kagame in military training beginning in the 1960s. Their plan was to capture power in Uganda first and use it as a base to oust Bantu dominated governments in Burundi, Rwanda and DRC and create a Nilotic Tutsi Empire with Batu Bahutu and Bantu Bairu returning to slavery conditions.
The so-called 1980 rigged elections in Uganda gave Museveni and his Batutsi mercenaries that numbered 35 percent in Museveni guerrilla force a chance to wage a guerrilla war against the UPC government under Obote. Baganda and Catholics welcomed them with open arms as redeemers (Paul Gifford 1999). Museveni and his Batutsi fighters got what they wanted. They captured power in Uganda in 1986 after the Okellos cleared the way for them in the 1985 coup against UPC and Obote (Acholi feel betrayed because they were supposed to share power after the signing of the Nairobi agreement).
As planned, beginning in 1990 Museveni supported Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) to wage a war that eventually toppled a Hutu-dominated government in Rwanda in 1994 and restored Tutsi rule with strong man Paul Kagame as minister of defense and vice-president. Like Museveni used Baganda and Catholics to capture and consolidate power in Uganda (no disrespect intended), Kagame used Bahutu as president, prime minister and minister of interior to consolidate power and then got rid of them and one of them got assassinated in Nairobi, Kenya. Also like Museveni and Ankole king, Kagame refused to restore Tutsi kingdom in Rwanda. Is this Bahororo versus Batutsi/Bahima feud?
Meanwhile Kagame and Museveni plotted from their Entebbe location the removal of Hutu president in Burundi. Here is what happened. "Museveni also had a hand in the Oct.23, 1993 coup against Burundi President Melchior Ndadaye, whose election had ended 31 years of Tutsi military rule in Burundi. According to some sources, Museveni planned the coup in a meeting in Entebbe which included the PRF's Paul Kagame. … The … coup in Burundi resulted in the murder of President Ndadaye" (EIR November 1994).
In 1996/97 Museveni and Kagame hatched and implemented a plan to topple the Bantu dominated government of Zaire led by Mobutu. Using the pretext of protecting Banyamulenge against possible genocide and Kabila as a cover, Museveni and Kagame and their Tutsi soldiers ended Mobutu rule and installed Kabila in Kinshasa in 1997 who was expected to rely on Tutsis to run the country, paving the way for ultimate takeover and declare a Tutsi Empire.
Thinking that with the capture of DRC, the Tutsi empire project had been completed, "Uganda President Yoweri Museveni reportedly gave away the secret of what was happening in Central Africa when he stated, on April 4, 1997, that [his] mission is to see Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire become federal states under one nation" (EIR July, 1998) – possibly and ultimately the Tutsi Empire.
Meanwhile Kabila was having difficulties with Batutsi because Congolese people didn't like their presence in key positions in DRC. Eventually Kabila chased them out of DRC. When this happened Kagame and Museveni felt betrayed and decided to punish him. They mounted another military attack against DRC in 1998/99. However, their former allies including Angola and Zimbabwe in the 1996/97 war that toppled Mobutu changed sides and fought with Kabila and defeated Museveni and Kagame troops.
Mugabe explained that he entered the war on the side of Kabila because he "saw the danger of a Tutsi empire in the middle of Africa" (J. N. Weatherby 2003). Who else saw it that way? Clark observed that the reason Uganda is intervening in the Central African region is because "Museveni is seeking to build a Tutsi-Hima empire in the greater Great Lakes region of Africa"(John F. Clark 2002). Andrew Spannaus also saw the same thing when he remarked about "the oligarchical mentality of those Tutsis who think that they are destined to rule the region [Great Lakes region]. This oligarchical caste identity among the Tutsis was exacerbated under colonialism"(EIR September 19, 1997).
When the military option took longer to produce the empire after Museveni and Kagame were defeated in 1998/99 Africa's World War over DRC, Museveni turned to the East African community and added the East African political federation component onto the economic integration part. Museveni then recommended a fast track for the federation ahead of integration the reason being that as the most senior East African head of state he would be the first federation president and once there hopefully maneuver the system and turn the federation into an empire.
For people who don't understand Museveni's ambition the above story may sound incredible – even a figment of the imagination. But it is true. East African leaders and citizens beware. Before and shortly after he became president, Museveni promised every Ugandan milk and honey and would end the long suffering, convert Uganda into an industrial state and middle income economy and society within fifteen years. Recently, the World Bank countered when Museveni reported that Uganda would become a middle income country in a few years. The World Bank noted that Uganda will not achieve middle income status by 2025.
Museveni has been telling East Africans and Ugandans in particular how the East African federation will create markets for goods and services and make everyone prosperous through job creation and increased incomes. But, in a situation where the majority of the people are absolutely poor, sheer numbers heaped in an East African political federation won't make much difference. What matters most is purchasing power and political federation per se won't improve it. What is needed is investment in productive and labor-intensive enterprises that put money into workers' pockets. You don't need to wait for economic integration and political federation before increasing productive investments that create jobs. Uganda needs to fight corruption, sectarianism and mismanagement of public funds first and release funds for productive investment, not chase economic and political federation as the top priority.
Museveni's real mission as he himself disclosed to the world on April 4, 1997 is to see that countries in the Horn of Africa and Great Lakes region become federal states under one nation – the Tutsi Empire – whether or not Ugandans get out of poverty.
Your comments are welcome.
Eric
References
1. Alec Russel Big Men Little People 2000
2. Joseph Weatherby The Other World 2003
3. EIR Special Report 1999
4. S. R. Karugire A political History of Uganda 1980
5. G. N. Uzoigwe Uganda: The Dilemma of Nationhood 1982
6. Christopher Ehret The Civilization of Africa: A History to 1800 2002
7. Paul Ngorogoza The People of Kigezi 1998
8. Victor A. Olorunsola The Politics of Cultural Sub-Nationalism in Africa 1972
9. David Reynolds One World Divisible 2000
10. B. L. Jacobs Administrators in East Africa 1965
11. Stephen Kinzer A Thousand Hills 2008
12. John F. Clark The African Stakes of the Congo War 2002
13. Paul Gifford. African Christianity, 1999
14. Gerard Prunier. Africa's World War, 2009.
http://www.kashambuzi.com/blog/981-is-creation-of-tutsi-empire-real-or-imaginary.html
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