Lunch with the King, Delaware University magazine 2002 (... Over lunch, the king spoke mainly Bantu dotted with French. He didn't seem to understand English, despite 40 years in anglophone countries. Except for a brief, enthusiastic exchange in Swahili with a student who had studied in Kenya, the entire conversation was conducted through a translator who sat at the King's side. Kigeli ate his modest salad slowly, his fork in his right hand pausing as he listened to questions. "Under what conditions would you return to your country?" one student asked. "If the Rwandan people want me back," came the translation. "Do you have support from the international diplomats to return to the monarchy, or is it just a dream?" asked Englebert. "The majority of Rwandans are in favor of my return, some of whom still don't have the courage to show themselves," came the guarded reply. In Burundi, the president invited the old monarch back, only to kill him. When asked why he thought his return would remedy the ills of the past 40 years, the King's repeated response was that his "children" would behave themselves when their "father" returned..)

Rwanda's King Kigeli V, the Umwami w'u Rwanda, and current head of a dynasty which goes back in an unbroken line to the year 1081 (Western calendar), is meeting with Ethiopian Crown Council President Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie at the Strategy'98 dinner in Washington DC on October 6, 1998. Both Prince Ermias and His Majesty are wearing decorations awarded by the International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA), a worldwide NGO for senior government officials involved in national policy and strategic affairs. King Kigeli was awarded the ISSA Gold Medal Award for Outstanding Contributions to Strategic Progress for Humanitarian Achievements for 1998. This recognized the King’s work to warn the world of the impending genocides in Rwanda over the past decade....

Both Prince Ermias and King Kigeli spoke at the big Strategy'98 conference, the Global Strategic Forum, about the strategic situations in their respective countries. As well, both participated in a special briefing to the United States Congress in September, and then again to the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee on October 14. The briefing to the Senate was held in the rarely-used Senate Treaty Room, the ornate and beautifully-decorated chamber used by the Senate to greet heads-of-state and special dignitaries.... King Kigeli discussed, at the conference, the seemingly intractable civil war situation in his country. Discussions are now underway to try to get the King's return to Rwanda by modifying the colonial constitution (left to the state by the Belgians) to allow his return, where he is seen as the only national unifying figure capable of bringing about reconciliation between the three major groups in Rwanda: the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The ISSA Awards automatically invested both leaders as Life Members of the prestigious association, which is involved in global conflict resolution studies....

Impoverished King watches Rwandan bloodbath from exile in Takoma Park. Washington Post, Apr 26, 1994 (...King Kigeli V once was the leader of Rwanda, a seven-foot monarch whose followers regarded him as someone with great supernatural powers. Today Kigeli V is applying for food stamps in Montgomery County. After three decades in exile around Africa, the former king came to suburban Washington two years ago and now lives in a spare, one-bedroom apartment in Takoma Park. He wears dull, battered clothes and relies on the generosity of friends and strangers for food and shelter. And now, as civil war soaks his native land in blood, Kigeli V Ndahindurwa, who was deposed when his country abolished its monarchy in 1960, watches helplessly from a distance, overwhelmed with anger and sadness for...)

For 30 years, King Kigeri V, the former ruler of Rwanda, has been waiting to go back to his small nation in the center of Africa. So have hundreds of thousands of his countrymen, scattered over nearby countries. They have cheered on rebels who invaded Rwanda, saying that the fighters have brought to the fore the little-known cause of the Tutsi, a minority Rwandan tribe who as exiles have been forbidden to come home.

"What we want is a modern Rwanda that would be democratic," said the 54-year-old King, who now lives a modest life in suburban Nairobi. "We want all Rwandans to go back and choose their government. If they don't want a king, they can choose a president or some other person."

On Thursday, the Rwandan Government claimed victory over the rebel Rwandese Patriotic Front, which invaded from Uganda on Sept. 30, 1990. The front accused the Government of President Juvenal Habyarimana's single-party Government of corruption and dictatorship. But on Friday, the President said "Nobody could say the war is finished in Rwanda. Nobody knows what the rebels could get up to." The Belgian Government, which sent 600 paratroopers to Rwanda at the start of the fighting on what it said was a mission to protect its nationals, made several attempts to get peace talks going, but these have fallen into limbo.

The Tutsi, traditionally the ruling tribe, were favored by the Belgian colonial rulers but then violently ousted in 1959 when the majority Hutu were installed, three years before independence. Ever since, the 500,000 Tutsi refugees in neighboring nations have wanted to return but have been prevented because the Hutu fear that the Tutsi would reimpose minority rule.

Since 1962, Rwanda has been led by Hutu-dominated governments. Between 1959 and 1964, it is estimated that as many as 100,000 Tutsi, who are strikingly tall in contrast to the generally short Hutu, were expelled and many thousands were killed by the Hutu.

The Tutsi who survived and remained at home say they have been the victims of severe discrimination. Rwanda is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa where citizens must carry identity cards stating their ethnicity. A system of quotas is supposed to allocate 15 percent of the jobs to the Tutsi, a reflection of the Tutsi percentage of the population. But the Tutsi complain that they have gotten much less, with only one Tutsi Cabinet minister and one Tutsi ambassador.

The Government of Mr. Habyarimana has argued that demographic pressures in Rwanda, the most densely populated country in Africa, make it impossible to permit the Tutsi refugees back. About 7.5 million people squeeze onto the increasingly arid hills of Rwanda, trying to eke out an existence on depleted soil. The Rwandan President has asked Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania to encourage the Tutsi refugees to stay, by granting them citizenship. But these nearby nations, beset by large populations and low employment, have refused. While many Tutsi exiles acknowledge the Rwandan Government's demographic argument, they say it disguises the basic element of ethnic antagonism.

When the Hutu of Rwanda look over the border to Burundi, also a former Belgian colony, they see a mirror image: there, the minority Tutsi dominate the majority Hutu. They also see a legacy of Tutsi violence against the Hutu. Most recently, in 1988, 5,000 to 10,000 Hutu were massacred by the Tutsi-led army. But since then, the Burundian President, Pierre Buyoya, has opened up the political and education systems, and even the army, to Hutu, an example that the Tutsi refugees say the Rwandan Government should follow in reverse.

Mike N. Rugema, a program officer for refugees at the All-African Conference of Churches in Nairobi, who is a Tutsi refugee, said he understood the Rwandan Government's arguments that the country was too crowded. "We agree it is small and overpopulated," Mr. Rugema said. "But it is our country, and it is for all Rwnadans to find a solution. It is poor for all Rwandans and it is for all Rwandans to find a a way to develop it." One of the top rebel commanders, Maj. Peter Bayingana, said his men were fighting so that the Tutsi exiles could come home. He denied that the Tutsi wanted to rule again. "Our people have got it very rough from the various countries where they have been," he said.

BILLY GRAHAM VISITS KIGELI V (Evangelist visits King of Rwanda during his tour there). Mar 1, 1960

Spirituality and Religion of Rwanda. World Wide Daniels (...The king of Rwanda was called umwami. Umwami, who was Tutsi, was the incarnation of Imana, and thereby was addressed as Nyagasani, which means God or Lord. Umwami was the source of the land's prosperity and fertility. He was the true owner of all of the cows and women of the land, and the kingdom could not exist without him. He gave power, wealth, and privilege to people, but could also take it back. Umwami was considered immortal by the fact that people would always remember him for his moral and physical perfection. It was a serious religious offense to rebel against Umwami or his kingdom, and doing so would result in the wrath of Imana...

Rwanda is a small landlocked country, it borders on Uganda in the north, on Tanzania in the east, on Burundi in the south and on Congo in the west. Kigali is the capital of Rwanda. Rwanda has a rich history and culture.

It was long time regarded as a mysterious kingdom with a legendary military force which was carefully bypassed by the Arab traders and the great Nile Explorers. John Hanning Speke was already welcomed to the court of Kabaka (King) Mutesa I of Buganda in 1862 while the first European visited Rwanda only 30 years later. It was in 1892 that the Austrian explorer Dr. Oscar Baumann came to Rwanda for a few days in search of the Nile. The story tells that Dr. Oscar Baumann needed the approval of the Rwanda Mwami (King) to leave the territory again which he refused to ask and that he escaped only after using his gunfire. Two years later in September 1894, an official German delegation conducted by the Army Officer and Count Von Götzen, met the Tutsi Mwami (King) Kigeri IV Rwabugiri. The historical meeting was carefully prepared and arranged through another Kingdom. The Germans found one of the best organized pre-colonial kingdoms of East-Africa. The three ethnic groups (Bahutus, Batutsis and Batwas) lived together, spoke the same language (Kinyarwanda) and had the same culture. Rwanda was once together with Burundi and Tanzania part of the German East African colony and became a Belgian protectorate after the first world war.

On your way to Butare you can visit in Nyanza (actually Nyabisindu) the former Mwami's palace (King's palace) and the seat of the feudal monarchy. The palace has been reconstructed to its 19th century state and shows a traditional dome that can be compared with the Kabaka's palace of Buganda (Kampala, Uganda).

The "Intore", once the elite of the traditional Rwanda army, were not only trained as military but also in high jump and dance. They were known for there remarkable technique allowing them to jump over 2m40. The Intore became worldwide famous as dancers in 1958 when the World Expo was held in Brussels. Today Intore dancers are part of the rich Rwanda folklore....