La frontiegravere ethnique comme outil de conquecircte du pouvoir: le cas du Parmehutu

The Rwandan revolution could have been a social revolution. It became an ethnic one, because it was distorted by an alliance between 'Hutu' clerks of Central Rwanda and important 'Hutu' lineage heads, landowners of the North and the Northwest Rwanda. Kayibanda and the 'group of Kabgayi', belonging to the westernized elite of Rwanda, intended to remove their 'Tutsi' rivals in the race for power and privilege promised by independence. Led by Bicamumpaka, the abakonde leaders wanted to get rid of the 'Tutsi' hegemony that Nyanza and the colonizer had imposed on them. These lineages intended to recover the power and the land which they held before colonization. In ubukonde land, though both were listed in the 'Hutu' category, the tension ran high between the large land owners and their dependants.