Cyilima II Rujugira | |
---|---|
Mwami (King) | |
Reign | 1770 - 1786 |
Died | 1786 Buyenzi, Kingdom of Burundi [1] |
Cyilima II Rujugira was Mwami (King) of Kingdom of Rwanda from 1770 to 1786. [2] Cyilima II Rujugira is famous for coining the phrase "Urwanda ruratera ntiruterwa" (No nation invades Rwanda, instead Rwanda defends and attacks nations).
His reign was characterized by many attacks from neighboring Kingdoms of Ndorwa, Gisaka and Burundi. During his time, a sacrificial warfare known as "war of Abatabazi" took place. It was between Rwanda and Burundi and involved special personnel from both sides on suicide missions which both believed would ultimately incur misfortunes to each other as enemies. It ended with King Mutaga III of Burundi committing suicide on Burundian soil in a self-sacrifice mission against Cyilima II Rujugira. [3]
Burundi originated in the 16th century as a small kingdom in the African Great Lakes region. After European contact, it was united with the Kingdom of Rwanda, becoming the colony of Ruanda-Urundi - first colonised by Germany and then by Belgium. The colony gained independence in 1962, and split once again into Rwanda and Burundi. It is one of the few countries in Africa to be a direct territorial continuation of a pre-colonial era African state.
Human occupation of Rwanda is thought to have begun shortly after the last ice age. By the 11th century, the inhabitants had organized into a number of kingdoms. In the 19th century, Mwami (king) Rwabugiri of the Kingdom of Rwanda conducted a decades-long process of military conquest and administrative consolidation that resulted in the kingdom coming to control most of what is now Rwanda. The colonial powers, Germany and Belgium, allied with the Rwandan court.
The Tutsi, also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi, are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi.
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 872 on 5 October 1993. It was intended to assist in the implementation of the Arusha Accords, signed on 4 August 1993, which was meant to end the Rwandan Civil War. The mission lasted from October 1993 to March 1996. Its activities were meant to aid the peace process between the Hutu-dominated Rwandese government and the Tutsi-dominated rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The UNAMIR has received much attention for its role in failing, due to the limitations of its rules of engagement, to prevent the Rwandan genocide and outbreak of fighting. Its mandate extended past the RPF overthrow of the government and into the Great Lakes refugee crisis. The mission is thus regarded as a major failure.
Mwami Mutaga III Senyamwiza Mutamo was the king of Burundi from 1739 to 1767. He succeeded king Mwezi III Ndagushimiye.
The Burundian Civil War was a civil war in Burundi lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war was the result of longstanding ethnic divisions between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic groups. The conflict began following the first multi-party elections in the country since its independence from Belgium in 1962, and is seen as formally ending with the swearing-in of President Pierre Nkurunziza in August 2005. Children were widely used by both sides in the war. The estimated death toll stands at 300,000.
Ruanda-Urundi, later Rwanda-Burundi, was a colonial territory, once part of German East Africa, that was occupied by troops from the Belgian Congo during the East African campaign in World War I and was administered by Belgium under military occupation from 1916 to 1922. It was subsequently awarded to Belgium as a Class-B Mandate under the League of Nations in 1922 and became a Trust Territory of the United Nations in the aftermath of World War II and the dissolution of the League. In 1962 Ruanda-Urundi became the two independent states of Rwanda and Burundi.
The Rwanda Defence Force is the military of the Republic of Rwanda. The country's armed forces were originally known as the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), but following the Rwandan Civil War of 1990–1994 and the Rwandan genocide of 1994 against the Tutsi, the victorious Rwandan Patriotic Front (Inkotanyi) created a new organization and named it the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA). Later, it was renamed to its current name.
The Kingdom of Burundi, also known as Kingdom of Urundi, was a Bantu kingdom in the modern-day Republic of Burundi. The Ganwa monarchs ruled over both Hutus and Tutsis. Created in the 16th century, the kingdom was preserved under German and Belgian colonial rule in the late 19th and early 20th century and was an independent state between 1962 and 1966.
Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa. It is bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and southeast, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west; Lake Tanganyika lies along its southwestern border. The capital cities are Gitega and Bujumbura, the latter being the country's largest city.
United Nations Security Council resolution 912, adopted unanimously on 21 April 1994, after reaffirming all resolutions on the situation in Rwanda, particularly resolutions 872 (1993) and 909 (1994), the council expressed its alarm and condemnation of the large-scale violence in the country which resulted in the death of thousands of innocent civilians, and proposed a revised mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR).
The Rwandan Revolution, also known as the Hutu Revolution, Social Revolution, or Wind of Destruction, was a period of ethnic violence in Rwanda from 1959 to 1961 between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two of the three ethnic groups in Rwanda. The revolution saw the country transition from a Tutsi monarchy under Belgian colonial authority to an independent Hutu-dominated republic.
Yuhi IV Gahindiro was the King of Rwanda from 1801 to 1845. He was the head of Bahindiro clan and father of Mutara II Rwogera. His reign is remembered in Rwandan history as the most peaceful. He died with no blood on his hands.
Ruganzu II Ndoli was Mwami of the Kingdom of Rwanda from roughly 1560s until his death. He was the son of King Ndahiro II Cyamatare and Nyirangabo-ya-Nyantaba. Ruganzu II is the most renowned king of Rwanda. He was a great warrior and was alleged to have performed miracles. His life and reign pervade many legends in the history of Rwanda. His father King Cyamatare and members of his family were brutally murdered by Nyebunga and his allies. Before dying the king planned and executed his son's escape plan.
Kigeli II Nyamuheshera was a possible Mwami (King) of the Kingdom of Rwanda in the late 17th century. Jan Vansina proposed that he was fictional, and added to the royal genealogy later to complete a cycle of dynastic names.
An attempted coup d'etat in Burundi took place between 18–19 October 1965, when a group of ethnic Hutu officers from the Burundian military and gendarmerie attempted to overthrow Burundi's government. The rebels were frustrated with Burundi's monarch, Mwami Mwambutsa IV, who had repeatedly attempted to cement his control over the government and bypassed parliamentary norms despite Hutu electoral gains. Although the prime minister was shot and wounded, the coup failed due to the intervention of a contingent of troops led by Captain Michel Micombero.
Kalemera Rwaka Ntagara was Mwami of the Kingdom of Rwanda in the mid-18th century.
Kigeli III Ndabarasa was a warrior Mwami of the Kingdom of Rwanda during the eighteenth century. The son of Cyilima II Rujugira, he was raised to be co-ruler by his father before attaining the throne on his death in 1765 or 1786. His reign was marked by military campaigns that expanded Rwandan territory and control. He brought the people of Ndorwa into the kingdom and conquered the small kingdom of Muabli. He expanded the large number of armies he had inherited from his father and founded new armies in Ndorwa and Burundi. He increased support for his military force by creating four new herds of cattle for his army, as well as ten for cattle-herders, and expanded the number of domains for cattle herding into new territories. At the same time, the observance of the practice of veneration for ancestors decreased during his reign. He died due to complications from an operation and was succeeded by his son Sentabyo.