Kings of Rwanda: Fathers of a nation Part 4
The Reign of H.M. Kigeli V (1959-): Not For the Power, But For the People PART III b y Stewart Adington
The stunning loss of their beloved mwami left the people of Rwanda shocked and grief-stricken. Even as the nation mourned however, the abiru, who had not not been called upon to order the royal succession since the days of Yuhi V Musinga, made hasty preparations to proclaim the accession to the throne of a new mwami.
Sensing that the Belgian colonial authorities would seek to take advantage of this period of instability to forcibly create a regency under their complete and direct control, thereby effectively crushing the hopes of the nation for autonomy, the aged counselors of the kingdom gathered in conclave to settle upon a successor.
H.M. King Kigeli V Ndahindurwa, with Belgian Officials
Despite the lack of a direct male descendant of Mutara III Rudahigwa, however, it soon became apparent that he had made known his wishes with regard to the royal succession. The Abbé Kagame, one of the leading religious figures of the kingdom, as well as a key political personality, declared himself ready to swear an oath that the late mwami had in fact secretly revealed to him his choice for the throne. That his choice should also have lighted upon a member of the royal family, and one of absolutely sterling reputation, held in the highest esteem by both the Rwandan people and the Belgian administration, was considered to be nothing short of providential.
The Investiture of H.M. Kigeli V Ndahindurwa
Despite the fact that other candidates were briefly discussed by the abiru, and by members of the Supreme Council, in the end the choice was a clear and resounding one. Mutara’s half-brother, Jean-Baptiste Ndahindurwa, was called upon to take up the burden of the throne, and to be invested with the power and responsibility of the sacred office of mwami. It is quite telling, in fact, that the new mwami, who was famed for his goodwill, his devotion to Christ and his care for the people, did not at all consider himself to be a likely candidate for the throne. According to witnesses, early on the day of his designation as mwami, he had simply gone out to tend to his herds of cattle, much as he had done in the days and months past, and was therefore entirely unaware of all the tumult and excitement surrounding his elevation to the kingship.
The scene at the public funeral of the late king, which took place on July 28, 1959, was understandably anything but a peaceful one. There was both profound grief and considerable tension in the air, as the people and the court prepared themselves for the next move of the Belgian administration in its seemingly incessant campaign to cripple the hopes of the Rwandan monarchy. The aged abiru, however, despite their relatively small numbers and the somewhat decrepit state of the traditional Rwandan protocols of state, were to play their hand brilliantly, effectively trumping the Belgians at their own game. Honoring scrupulously the ancient Rwandan royal traditions, and carefully following the various rites associated with the transfer of power, they took as their central inspiration the ancient formula of succession: Umwami aratabazwa, igihugu kigahabwa undi mwami kitaraye nze (“The mwami is buried, then the country receives a new mwami, without passing one day with a vacant throne”).
After the funeral of Rwanda’s lamented hero-king on the hill of Mwima, in Nyanza, the announcement of his successor was made in the presence of the assembled mourners and the officials of the Belgian administration. When the name of Ndahindurwa was made known to the crowd, there was a great acclamation from the Rwandan people. Given the enormously positive response to the succession of the young monarch (who assumed the throne name of Kigeli V Ndahindurwa) to the royal dignity, the Belgian authorities, including Governor-General Jean-Paul Harroy,
had no choice but to acknowledge that they had been outmaneuvered by the abiru, and they were therefore forced to put a good face on their defeat. In point of fact, however, and despite the deeply questionable nature of their ultimate plan for Rwanda, the Belgian authorities themselves privately expressed a sincere, if somewhat grudging respect for the character and abilities of the man who had just become king.
Born in Kamembe, southwest Rwanda on June 29, 1936, to the exiled King Yuhi V Musinga and Queen Mukashema, the young mwami had been baptized a Roman Catholic, taking the name of Jean-Baptiste. He had been educated at the Groupe Scolaire d’Astrida, had continued his studies at Nyangezi College in Zaire (modern- day Democratic Republic of the Congo) and had worked with the Belgian administration in the Astrida Territory from 1956 to 1958. He was named the sub- chief of Bufundu in 1959, and was widely recognized to be a devout young man of great probity, with a deep sense of social justice and a keen knowledge of his country, its people and their needs.
Mwami Kigeli V of Rwanda and King Baudoin of Belgium
The new king’s reign began in an atmosphere of extreme tension and growing unrest among certain elements of the people. With the population secretly stirred to dissent by the Belgian authorities, who sought to undo the positive accomplishments of the late mwami, and to hobble the chances of the new king, incidents of political violence and other types of crime grew throughout the nation. It was not until October 9, 1959, and after considerable difficulty that His Majesty Kigeli V Ndahindurwa was to swear his oath of investiture at Kigali. As a precaution, and because of the volatile nature of the political situation in his struggling country, the new mwami had demanded that explicit mention be made of his wish to reign as a constitutional monarch, so as to avoid any future possibility of nullification of his enthronement by the tutelary authorities. In addition, having requested to reign constitutionally, Kigeli V Ndahindurwa was now possessed of an almost irrefutable argument in favor of the speedy and equitable creation of an independent native government and a new national constitution.
H.M. King Kigeli V Ndahindurwa
Sadly, however, the course charted by the devoted new monarch was not to be realized in his land. Circumstances and events conspired against the fulfillment of his plans, and it soon became painfully apparent that the Belgian administration, which purported to favor the peace and stability of its “client” nation, was actually in collusion with anti-government factions to effect the downfall of the Rwandan monarchy and the installation of a new and more malleable régime under its watchful eye. By early 1960, the handwriting was most clearly on the wall on a number of different levels, and the Belgians continued to do their utmost to undermine the monarchical prestige of the increasingly popular young mwami. In that year, the portrait of the mwami, which had previously graced banknotes and coins of the Bank of Rwanda, was replaced by images of wild animals, and His Majesty’s closest advisors were increasingly placed under close surveillance by the Belgian Sureté. The image of the kalinga also disappeared from public view, and political and racial violence continued to escalate in the once-peaceful kingdom. The evil seeds cunningly sown by the European authorities over the course of the preceding decades had sadly begun to flower just as Rwanda stood on the threshold of full independence.
In a recently declassified note addressed to King Baudoin of Belgium on October 24, 1960 by his Grand Marshal Gobert d’Aspremont Lynden, uncle of the Minister of African Affairs, the Marshal indicates that he sees no difficulty in inviting King Mwambutsa, Mwami of Urundi, to the upcoming wedding of Baudoin in Brussels.
“As for Kigeli, the Mwami of Rwanda,” continues the Grand Marshal, “there is no question, as he will be put aside.” This constitutes one of the most clear and striking indications of the secret plans of the Belgian authority to eliminate Kigeli V Ndahindurwa from his rightful position as monarch of his people, and to install some sort of imperialist puppet government in his place.
H.M. King Kigeli himself has declared unequivocally that the Belgian scheme for his removal was becoming increasingly apparent over the course of the months. “It was evident that Logiest and Harroy wanted to chase me from power,” he states. “If I was at Léopoldville [at the time of the Belgian coup d’état], it was because I wanted to meet Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the UN, and to plead in favor of independence. Harroy had made no objection to my departure, very much to the contrary. But when I returned to Rwanda, I found Belgian commandos who were guarding the border with the aim of keeping me from re-entering my country… I never fled Rwanda, as people have said, it was the Belgians who kept me from returning, for they wanted to establish the Republic…” Thus, on January 28, 1961, in both haste and a certain measure of secrecy, the Belgian government arranged for a meeting of local Rwandan burgomasters at Gitarama, under the heavily armed protection of Belgian para-commandos, where these native electors illegally voted for the abolition of the monarchy, thereby leading to the installation of the Republic of Rwanda under its first President, Dominique Mbonyumutu.
King Kigeli V and King Baudoin
King Kigeli, now effectively barred from returning to his homeland by the successful Belgian plot, was offered a suitable residence in Kinshasa by Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Congo. The mwami eventually did manage to make a journey to New York, where he was entirely successful in his efforts to obtain full UN support for the independence of Rwanda. The General Assembly stipulated that the Belgian government should
Permit the repatriation of all Rwandan refugees who had fled their homeland during the oppressive Belgian régime,
Accede to the return of M. King Kigeli V Ndahindurwa to his country
and
Allow Rwanda complete control of the conduct of its affairs as a free, independent and autonomous
The Belgians would ultimately comply with none of these demands, and would openly defy the entirety of the UN mandate, instead unilaterally proclaiming Rwanda to be a Republic at the end of 1961. In July of 1962, they granted full independence to the struggling and beleaguered nation, now bereft of its mwami, the traditional spiritual and political father of the Banyarwanda. According to one of His Majesty’s closest advisors, H. E. Chancellor Boniface Benzinge,
As resolved by the United Nations, during the first election before independence, King Kigeli V went to Rwanda to assist the first elections, but he ran into a complication – all Belgian guards at the border had orders to illegally arrest the King if he tried to return. Thus, His Majesty left Tanzania during the night for friendly Burundi, and then from Burundi crossed the Rwandan border with the assistance of a pregnant woman, who posed as if she was about to deliver. When the Belgian paratroopers at the border began to harass the pregnant lady, a case of beer was procured and delivered to the Belgian troops. As the Belgians happily drank their beer, the King crossed the border and arrived in Kigali a little after midnight. By the next dawn, many people heard rumors that the King had returned to their country, and they celebrated. But the Belgians intervened and arrested him, taking him by military helicopter to Bujumbura, where he was placed under house-arrest.
The heavy-handed treatment of the King by the Belgian authorities shocked many in the international diplomatic community, particularly after his successful bid for Rwandan independence at the United Nations. “Fortunately,” continues the Chancellor,
before he left Tanzania (where he was living in exile), King Kigeli V informed the former President Julius Nyerere about his trip and how the visit was in accord with the resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations. As soon as Julius Nyerere heard of the arrest, he sent a telegram to the Belgian governor of Rwanda and Burundi, the same Mr. Jean-Paul Harroy, telling him that if the Belgians continued to refuse to abide by United Nations resolutions, they should send the King immediately to Dar-es-Salaam. If the Belgians did not [comply], all Belgians living in Dar-es-Salaam would be arrested. Mr. Jean Paul Harroy acquiesced and sent His Majesty back to Tanzania — accompanied by two Belgians to ensure the King did nothing further to try to help his people. This was the last time King Kigeli V has been in Rwanda.
Since the time of his enforced exile by the Belgians, H.M. King Kigeli V Ndahindurwa has lived the entirety of his life abroad, first in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (1961 to 1962), and then in Nairobi, Kenya (1963-1971). He has also lived in Kampala, Uganda (1972-1978) and again in Nairobi (1979-1992). In June of 1992, he was granted political asylum by the US government, and has lived in Washington, DC, since that time.
A Recent Photo of H.M. King Kigeli V Ndahindurwa, with H.E. Chancellor Boniface Benzinge
His Majesty regularly travels throughout the world to speak out on issues related to the happiness, security and prosperity of his people, and has received an immense amount of praise, as well as numerous international awards and high rank in various knightly orders and confraternities for his tireless efforts on behalf of justice and peace in Rwanda. He is the founder and head of the King Kigeli V Foundation, which works to support humanitarian initiatives on behalf of Rwandan refugees throughout the world. In addition, he is the Sovereign Grand Master of the Royal Order of the Lion of Rwanda, founded during the reign of his late brother,
H.M. Mutara III Rudahigwa, as well as of the Royal Orders of the Drum, the Crown and the Crested Crane. A devout Roman Catholic believer, he was recently made a Grand Cross of the Real Confraria de Sao Teotonio of Portugal, as well as a Confrère of the Most Prestigious Brotherhood of the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Noble City of Lisbon.
The decades that have followed the forced exile of its mwami have been violent and painful ones for the Rwandan nation, and the way ahead still remains fundamentally unclear. Manipulated and betrayed by foreign interlopers, torn asunder during decades of civil strife and unspeakable brutality, the people of Rwanda have throughout these many tragic ordeals been deprived of the inspired leadership of their traditional ruler, the chief bulwark and support of the social, political and spiritual life of the nation.
The very fabric of the Rwandan state has been fatally compromised by this important lacuna, and the resulting chaos and suffering of the past four decades have sadly dogged the halting development of the struggling republic. None can foretell the full nature or duration of the mandates of Providence, but with faith in the right, and with a firm confidence in his ultimate value to his beloved homeland, His Majesty Kigeli V Ndahindurwa, Umwami w’u Rwanda continues to work tirelessly on behalf of his orphaned people, the nation of the Banyarwanda.
SUMMARY BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Works Consulted
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- Braeckman, Colette: “La fin de la monarchie était annoncée” (2001)
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(1997)
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