Mutara III Rudahigwa

Mutara III Rudahigwa (March 1911[1] – 25 July 1959) was King (mwami) of Rwanda between 1931 and 1959. He was the first Rwandan king to be baptised, and Roman Catholicism took hold in Rwanda during his reign. His Christian names were Charles Léon Pierre, and he is sometimes referred to as Charles Mutara III Rudahigwa.

Mutara III Rudahigwa
Mwami of Rwanda
Reign16 November 1931 – 25 July 1959
PredecessorYuhi V Musinga
SuccessorKigeli V Ndahindurwa
BornMarch 1911
Nyanza, Kingdom of Rwanda
Died25 July 1959(1959-07-25) (aged 48)
Usumbura, Ruanda-Urundi
Burial
Nyanza district
Spouse
Nyiramakomali
​
​
(m. 1933; div. 1941)​

​
(m. after 1942)​
ClanAbanyiginya
FatherYuhi V of Rwanda
MotherRadegonde Nyiramavugo III Kankazi
ReligionRoman Catholicism

Early life and education

Rudahigwa was born in March 1911,[2] in the royal capital of Rwanda, Nyanza, to King Yuhi V Musinga,[3] and Queen Kankazi (later Queen Mother Radegonde Nyiramavugo III Kankazi), the first of his eleven wives.[4][5][6] He was a member of the Tutsi Abanyiginya clan.[7]

In 1919 he began his education at the Colonial School for Chiefs' Sons in Nyanza, subsequently becoming his father's secretary in 1924.[3] In January 1929 he was appointed a chief and administered a province.[8][9]

Reign

Rudahigwa became king on 16 November 1931, the Belgian colonial administration having deposed his father, Yuhi V Musinga, four days earlier.[10] He took the royal name Mutara, becoming Mutara III Rudahigwa.[11] He is sometimes referred to as Charles Mutara III Rudahigwa.[12]

He was the first Rwandan king to convert to Catholicism, converting in 1943 and taking the Christian name Charles Léon Pierre.[3] His father had refused to convert to Christianity, and the Rwandan Catholic Church eventually perceived him as anti-Christian and as an impediment to their civilising mission.[13] Rudahigwa had been secretly instructed in Christianity by Léon Classe, the head of the Rwandan Catholic Church, since 1929, and was groomed by the Belgians to replace his father.[8] In 1946 he dedicated the country to Christ, effectively making Christianity a state religion.[11][14] His conversion spearheaded a wave of baptisms in the protectorate.[3][15]

His reign coincided with the worst recorded period of famine in Rwanda between 1941 and 1945, which included the Ruzagayura famine (1944 - 1945), during which time 200,000 out of the nation's population of around two million perished.[11]

Rising ethnic tensions
See also: Rwandan Revolution

During Rudahigwa's reign there was a marked stratification of ethnic identity within Ruanda-Urundi, the Belgian-ruled mandate of which Rwanda formed the northern part. In 1935, the Belgian administration issued identity cards formalising the ethnic categories, Tutsi, Hutu and Twa.[16] After World War II, a Hutu emancipation movement began to grow throughout Ruanda-Urundi, fueled by increasing resentment of the inter-war social reforms, and also an increasing sympathy for the Hutu within the Catholic Church.[17] Although in 1954, Rudhahigwa abolished the ubuhake system of indentured service that exploited Hutus,[18] this had little real practical effect.[19][20]

The monarchy and prominent Tutsi sensed the growing influence of the Hutu and began to agitate for immediate independence on their own terms,[21] culminating in Rudahigwa's demand for independence from Belgium in 1956.[18] In 1957, a group of Hutu scholars wrote the "Bahutu Manifesto". This political manifesto denounced the "exploitation" of the Hutus by the ethnic Tutsi and called for their liberation from first Tutsi, and then Belgian, rule.[22] Hutu political parties quickly formed after that, with future-president Gregoire Kayibanda forming the Hutu Social Movement (soon renamed MDR-PARMEHUTU), and Joseph Gitera creating Association for Social Promotion of the Masses (APROSOMA).[23]

Death

On 24 July 1959, Rudahigwa arrived in Usumbura (now Bujumbura), Urundi, for a meeting with Belgian colonial authorities arranged by Father André Perraudin.[24] The following day, he visited his Belgian doctor at the colonial hospital, where he died.[25] The Belgian authorities put out conflicting explanations for his death. One was that he complained of a severe headache and had been treated by his doctor, but collapsed as he left the hospital of what was later determined, by three doctors, to be a cerebral haemorrhage. Another Belgian explanation was that he died from a reaction to a penicillin shot. An autopsy was not carried out due to the objections of Queen Mother Kankazi.[26]

Rumours that he had been deliberately killed by the Belgian authorities were rife, and tensions rose: ordinary Rwandans gathered along routes and stoned Europeans' cars.[26][27] Rumours that he was in poor health, suffering from the effects of excessive drinking,[26][28] as well as the effects of untreated syphilis, are claims unverified by any evidence.[28] A Twa attendant of the king said he was in great health at the time,[29] which is supported by his active engagement in sporting activities then, including vigorous games of tennis.

Rudahigwa was succeeded by Jean-Baptiste Ndahindurwa, as Kigeli V.[18]

Personal life

Mutara married Nyiramakomali on 15 October 1933 and they divorced in 1941. He married Rosalie Gicanda, a Christian, in a church wedding on 13 January 1942.[30]

After Rudahigwa's death, Rosalie Gicanda remained in Rwanda. She was murdered in 1994 during the Rwandan genocide on the orders of Idelphonse Nizeyimana. He was later detained, convicted by a UN war crimes court, and sentenced to life imprisonment.[31]

Honours
Styles of
Mutara III Rudahigwa
Reference styleHis Majesty
Spoken styleYour Majesty

Ancestry

References
  1. https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-mutara-iii-rudahigwa-grave-image20198819
  2. Laurent Gakuba (1991). Rwanda, 1931-1959 (in French). La Pensee universelle. p. 96. ISBN 9782214087992.
  3. Aimable Twagilimana (2007). Historical Dictionary of Rwanda. Scarecrow Press. p. 199. ISBN 9781442255913.
  4. "Genealogy". Archived from the original on 2016-11-28. Retrieved 2017-12-09.
  5. Alexis Kagame (1988). Alexis Kagame: l'homme et son oeuvre : actes du Colloque international, Kigali, 26 novembre-2 décembre 1987 (in French). Ministère de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche scientifique. p. 67.
  6. Leon Delmas (1950). Généalogies de la noblesse (les Batutsi) du Ruanda (in French). Vicariat Apostolique du Ruanda Kabgayi. pp. 25, 91.
  7. "Rwanda: Clan of the dynasty Abanyiginya". Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 31 October 2002.
  8. J. J. Carney (2011). From Democratization to Ethnic Revolution: Catholic Politics in Rwanda, 1950-1962 (Ph.D). Catholic University of America. pp. 62–63.
  9. J. J. Carney (2014). Rwanda Before the Genocide. Oxford University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9780190612375.
  10. Frank K. Rusagara (2009). Resilience of a Nation: A History of the Military in Rwanda. Fountain Publishers. p. 99. ISBN 9789970190010.
  11. Aimable Twagilimana (2007). Historical Dictionary of Rwanda. Scarecrow Press. p. xxviii. ISBN 9780810864269.
  12. Aimable Twagilimana (2007). Historical Dictionary of Rwanda. Scarecrow Press. p. 7. ISBN 9780810864269.
  13. Aimable Twagilimana (2007). Historical Dictionary of Rwanda. Scarecrow Press. p. 25. ISBN 9780810864269.
  14. Carol Rittner; John K. Roth; Wendy Whitworth, eds. (2004). Genocide in Rwanda: Complicity of the Churches?. Paragon House. p. 231. ISBN 9781557788375.
  15. Michael Rectenwald; Rochelle Almeida; George Levine, eds. (2015). Global Secularisms in a Post-Secular Age. Walter de Gruyter. p. 207. ISBN 9781614516750.
  16. Helena Cobban (2007). Amnesty After Atrocity?. Routledge. p. 33. ISBN 9781317263708.
  17. Gérard Prunier (1995). The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. C. Hurst & Co. pp. 42–44. ISBN 9781850653721.
  18. Aimable Twagilimana (2007). Historical Dictionary of Rwanda. Scarecrow Press. p. xxix. ISBN 9780810864269.
  19. Gérard Prunier (1995). The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. C. Hurst & Co. p. 46. ISBN 9781850653721.
  20. Tharcisse Gatwa (2005). The Churches and Ethnic Ideology in the Rwandan Crises, 1900-1994. Regnum Books International. p. 50. ISBN 9781870345248.
  21. Gérard Prunier (1995). The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. C. Hurst & Co. p. 43. ISBN 9781850653721.
  22. Aimable Twagilimana (2007). Historical Dictionary of Rwanda. Scarecrow Press. p. 82. ISBN 9780810864269.
  23. Gérard Prunier (1995). The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. C. Hurst & Co. p. 47. ISBN 9781850653721.
  24. Helen Codere 1973:293
  25. Tharcisse Gatwa (2005). The Churches and Ethnic Ideology in the Rwandan Crises, 1900-1994. Regnum Books International. p. 55. ISBN 9781870345248.
  26. Rosamond Halsey Carr (2000). Land of a Thousand Hills. Plume. p. 115. ISBN 9781101143513.
  27. Ian Linden; Jane Linden (1977). Church and Revolution in Rwanda. Manchester University Press. p. 262. ISBN 9780719006715.
  28. Filip Reyntjens (1985). Pouvoir et droit au Rwanda (in French). Musée royal de l'Afrique centrale. p. 239. Archived from the original on 2016-04-18. Retrieved 2016-08-24.
  29. Codere 1973: 293
  30. Laurent Gakuba (1991). Rwanda, 1931-1959 (in French). La Pensee universelle. p. 96. ISBN 9782214087992.
  31. "Rwanda genocide: Nizeyimana convicted of killing Queen Gicanda". BBC News. 19 June 2012.
  32. Carney, J. J. (2014). Rwanda Before the Genocide: Catholic Politics and Ethnic Discourse in the Late Colonial Era. United States of America: Oxford University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-19-998227-1.
  • Généalogies de la noblesse (les Batutsi) du Ruanda, Vicariat Apostolique du Ruanda Kabgayi (1950) (in French). Detailed genealogical record of Rwandan nobility:
  • Scanned copy
  • Plain text copy
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Yuhi V Musinga		 King of Rwanda
1931–1959		 Succeeded by
Kigeli V Ndahindurwa
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