Hutu

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Hutu
Total population

5-9.5 million
Regions with significant populations
Rwanda, Burundi, Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (mainly refugees)
Languages
Kirundi, Kinyarwanda
Religions
Catholicism, Protestantism, Sunni Islam, indigenous beliefs.
Related ethnic groups
Tutsi

The Hutu are a Central African ethnic group, living mainly in Rwanda and Burundi.

Contents

[edit] Population statistics

The Hutu are the largest of the three ethnic groups in Burundi and Rwanda; according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, 84% of Rwandans[1] and 85% of Burundians[2] are Hutu, although other sources have found statistics that differ by several percent.[3] The division between the Hutu and the Tutsi, the larger of the other two groups, is based more upon social class than ethnicity, as there are no significant lingual, physical, or cultural differences between them. (The Twa pygmies, the smallest of Rwanda and Burundi's three groups, also share language and culture with the Hutu and Tutsi, but are much shorter and have agreed-upon genetic differences.)[4][5]

[edit] Competing theories about origins

The Hutu arrived in Africa's Great Lakes region during the 1000s, displacing the Twa pygmies,[6] and dominated the area with a series of small kingdoms until the arrival of the Tutsi. Several theories exist to explain the Tutsi and their differences (if any) from the Hutu. One is that the Tutsi were a Hamitic people who migrated south from what is now Ethiopia, conquering the Hutu kingdoms and establishing dominance over the Hutu and Twa between the 1400s and the 1700s.[6] However, an alternate theory, that the Hutu and Tutsi were originally one people, but were artificially divided by German and then Belgian colonists so the Tutsi minority could serve as local overseers for Berlin and Brussels, has received support among those supporting Rwandan national unity.[7][8] Still others suggest that the two groups are related but not identical, and that the differences between the two were exacerbated by Europeans[9] or by a gradual, natural split as those who owned cattle became known as Tutsi and those who didn't became Hutu.[5] Mahmood Mamdani states that the Belgian colonial power designated people as Tutsi or Hutu on the basis of cattle ownership, physical measurements and church records.[10]

[edit] Post-colonial history of the Hutu and Tutsi

The Belgian-sponsored Tutsi monarchy survived until 1959, when Kigeli V was exiled from the colony (then called Ruanda-Urundi.) Radical Hutus, many belonging to the political party Parmehutu (Party of the Hutu Emancipation Movement), gained power, and in 1962, when the area was divided into Rwanda and Burundi and both countries received their independence from Belgium, Hutus seized full control of Rwanda. Once in control, these Hutus then began to kill thousands of Tutsis.[11] Tutsis, however, remained in control of Burundi.

During the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, United Nations peacekeepers stepped back as Hutu extremists killed[12] around 800,000 Tutsis,[13] as well as moderate Hutu politicians. About 30% of the Twa population of Rwanda also died in the fighting.[14]

As of 2006, violence between the Hutu and Tutsi has subsided, but the situation in both Rwanda and Burundi is still tense, and tens of thousands of Rwandans are still living outside the country (see Great Lakes refugee crisis).[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b CIA World Factbook writers. Rwanda: People. CIA World Factbook. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
  2. ^ CIA World Factbook writers. Burundi: People. CIA World Factbook. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
  3. ^ Kinyarwanda. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
  4. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica writers. Twa. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved on 2006-11-01.
  5. ^ a b The Meaning of “Hutu,” “Tutsi,” and “Twa”. Human Rights Watch (1999). Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
  6. ^ a b Burundi. Lonely Planet Publications. Retrieved on 2006-12-30.
  7. ^ Joseph Mutaboba. I am Rwandese (at bottom of page). New Internationalist. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
  8. ^ Saumitra Sen (2006-10-30). Invasion Theories. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
  9. ^ Vernellia R., Randall (2006-02-16). Sexual Violence and Genocide Against Tutsi Women. University of Dayton. Retrieved on 2007-01-03.
  10. ^ Mahmood Mamdani (2001) When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
  11. ^ The Hutu Revolution. Human Rights Watch (1999). Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
  12. ^ Timeline of the genocide. PBS. Retrieved on 2006-12-30.
  13. ^ "How the genocide happened", BBC, 2004-04-01. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
  14. ^ "Minorities Under Siege: Pygmies today in Africa", UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.

[edit] External links

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