RWANDA, FLAG OF

vertically striped red-yellow-green national flag with a large black R in the centre. The flag's width-to-length ratio is approximately 2 to 3. Under the Belgian colonial regime, the elite Tutsi minority ruled the social, political, and economic life of Rwanda. The majority Hutu eventually organized a revolt against this feudal system, which culminated in a civil war that began on November 1, 1959. On March 23, 1960, the new Provisional Special Council, which was established by the Belgians and dominated by Hutu members, demanded the creation of a national flag and a reduction in the powers of the traditional mwami (Tutsi king). On January 28, 1961, the Republic of Rwanda was proclaimed under a vertical tricolour of red, yellow, and greenthe pan-African colours. In the flag of Rwanda these symbolize, respectively, the blood shed for liberation, peace and tranquillity, and hope and optimism. In late September 1961 a black R was added to the centre of the flag to distinguish it from the otherwise identical flag of Guinea and to symbolize the name of the country, revolution, and referendum. No change was made in the flag when independence was finally attained from Belgium on July 1, 1962, nor when a Tutsi-dominated army overthrew the Hutu government in 1994, following the killing of hundreds of thousands of Tutsi. Whitney Smith History Tutsi traditions trace the birth of the Rwanda kingdom to the miraculous feats of its founding hero, Gihanga, whose coming to Rwanda is said to coincide with the advent of civilization. A more sober appraisal, however, would emphasize a long process of Tutsi migrations from the north, culminating in the 16th century with the emergence of a small nuclear kingdom in the central region. From 1894 to 1918, Rwanda, along with Burundi, was part of German East Africa. After Belgium became the administering authority under the mandates system of the League of Nations, Rwanda and Burundi formed a single administrative entity; they continued to be jointly administered as the Territory of Ruanda-Urundi until the end of the Belgian trusteeship in 1962. By then, however, the two states had evolved radically different political systems, with Rwanda having declared itself a republic in January 1961 and forced its monarch (mwami), Kigeri, into exile. Burundi, on the other hand, retained the formal trappings of a constitutional monarchy until 1966. The Rwanda revolution was rooted partly in a traditional system of stratification based on an all-embracing premise of inequality and partly in a colonial heritage that greatly increased the oppressiveness of the few over the many. Tutsi hegemony was unquestionably more burdensome under Belgian rule than at any time prior to European colonization. By the end of World War II, a growing number of colonial civil servants and missionaries had come to recognize the legitimacy of Hutu claims against the ruling Tutsi minority. The proclamation of the republic a year and a half before the country acceded to independence testifies to the substantial support extended by the trusteeship authorities to the revolution. What began as a peasant revolt in November 1959 eventually transformed itself into an organized political movement aimed at the overthrow of the monarchy and the vesting of full political power in Hutu hands. Under the leadership of Grgoire Kayibanda, Rwanda's first president, the Party for Hutu Emancipation (Parti du Mouvement de l'Emancipation du Peuple Hutu) emerged as the spearhead of the revolution. Communal elections were held in 1960, resulting in a massive transfer of power to Hutu elements at the local level. And in the wake of the coup (January 1961) in Gitarama in central Rwanda, which was carried off with the tacit approval of the Belgian authorities, an all-Hutu provisional government came into being. Therefore, by the time that the republic was proclaimed in July 1962, the revolution had already run its course. Thousands of Tutsi began fleeing Rwanda, and by early 1964following a failed Tutsi raid from Burundiat least 150,000 were in neighbouring countries. With the elimination of Tutsi elements from the political arena, north-south regional competition among Hutu politicians arose, reflecting the comparatively privileged position of those from the central and southern regions within the party, the government, and the administration. Regional tensions came to a head in July 1973, when a group of army officers from the north overthrew the Kayibanda regime in a bloodless coup and installed a northerner, Major General Juvnal Habyarimana. Habyarimana gave a distinctly regional coloration to the institutions of the state during his 21 years in power. North-south polarities eventually gave way to subregional factions within the northern establishment. By 1980 the principal factions were the Bashiru and Bagoyi elements, respectively identified with the Bushiru and Bugoyi subregions. Habyarimana sided with the Bashiru faction and was the target of an abortive, Bagoyi-inspired coup in April 1980. Thereafter Habyarimana remained in power by holding referenda in 1983 and 1988, thus circumventing the stipulation in the 1978 constitution that the president serve only a single five-year term. Tension between the Hutu and Tutsi flared in 1990, when the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (Front Patriotique Rwandais; FPR) rebels invaded from Uganda. A cease-fire was negotiated in early 1991, and negotiations between the FPR and government began in 1992. In the meantime, revisions were made to the 1978 constitution, and the new document, allowing multiparty participation in the government, was promulgated in June 1991. An agreement between the government and FPR was signed in August 1993 at Arusha, Tanzania, that called for the creation of a broad-based transition government that would include the FPR. Extremist Hutu were strongly opposed to this plan. In April 1994 a plane carrying Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryama, president of Burundi, crashed, killing both men; it was thought that the plane had been shot down by extremist Hutu. A wave of anarchy and mass killings followed over the next several months, in which as many as a half million civilians, mostly Tutsi, were slaughtered. The FPR responded by resuming their fight, declaring victory in July, and establishing a transitional government. Hundreds of thousands of Rwandansboth Hutu and Tutsifled, most of them into eastern Zaire (now called Congo [Kinshasa]). The great majority returned to Rwanda in late 1996 and early 1997. Ren Lemarchand The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica