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Article: A truer history of Hutu-Tutsi relations would lead to better reporting.(Commentary)(Editorials)(Letters)
- Article from:
- The Washington Times (Washington, DC)
- Article date:
- November 26, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Gus Constantine's background piece blaming Hutu-Tutsi hatred on colonialist and Belgian favoritism of the Tutsi reflects the fashionable view that before European colonizers pitted them against each other, African tribes got along just fine ("Hutu-Tutsi hatred grew from colonialism," Nov. 15). Alas, as history, that's poppycock.
Several centuries before the Germans claimed Rwanda and Burundi as part of German East Africa in 1907, the Nilotic Tutsi had come from the north and established a feudalist regime over the Hutu majority. The basis of Tutsi feudalism was not land, but the ownership of cattle. Besides growing subsistence crops, Hutus frequently worked ...