The Christian Church & Genocide

[The following is an edited excerpt of Déogratiuas Ndayishimiye's paper presented at The Media Project's workshop "The Role of Religion in Armed Conflicts"  The full text of his presentation is available for download below.]

THE FIRST MISSIONARIES to set foot in Rwanda and Burundi at the end of the 19th Century were the “White Fathers”. But until end of WWI, mission efforts were not well established among Burundians.

It is important to understand that the growth strategies for the Belgian administration and the missionaries were similar and complementary.  They were so similar, in fact, it was difficult to separate the colonizers’ actions from the missionaries’.

At a certain point, the strategy of the missionaries was about to fail because they had neglected to target traditional chiefs. Seeing this, Cardinal Lavigerie, of the Belgian command, recommended that missionaries target the administrative chiefs, believing the masses would then be more responsive. 

Lavigerie said: “To the African Merovingian, one should find a black Clovis”. But this strategy failed, partly because they had not taken into account the fact that in both societies, there were dominant social classes whose consent was essential to getting things done.

When the Europeans finally noticed this, their friendship with the socially dominant Tutsis began. The Europeans understood that playing the "Tutsi card" would allow them penetrate society without any hindrances.

When Belgian government was shuffled in the 1920s, the Ministry of Colonies was given to the Catholic Church. The latter decided then to set up a policy that would increase the visibility and power of Tutsis, henceforth called by Belgians "the true friend". According to that new policy, any Chief should be baptized, otherwise sacked from his position. In Rwanda for example, a new King was enthroned in 1931, following Bishop Class proposal. That King was converted in 1943 and baptized as Charles, the Duke of Flanders, Leon as Bishop Classe and Pierre (Peter) as Governor Rijckman.  The Chief was given the names of powerful colonial men to make him happy. The first Christian king was established in Rwanda and king was then seen as Godson. The newly baptized king started a number of reforms, like the building of a church at his palace.

The links between Belgian administration and Church was permitted by the State in order to turn over education and health infrastructures to the Church.  Eventually, more than 50% of schools and health centers and hospitals were managed by missionaries, priests and nuns. Church became then, by virtue of that social role, the second-most-powerful institution, behind after the State, and the second-largest source of job in both Rwand and Burundi.

The negative consequence was that - due to the Church's alliance with Tutsis - the Tutsis became the primary beneficiaries of Church services, especially quality education and administrative job opportunities.

For those Hutus interested in higher education, the only possibility was to study Theology. They were sent to seminaries established across the region. But after graduation, they noticed they were not of need in society because colonial administration did not need those who majored in Theology.