Bagogwe

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The Bagogwe are an ethnic group in Rwanda who traditionally mainly live as cattle herders in the northwest of the country, near the border with Uganda . They were generally viewed as a subgroup of the Tutsi .

The name Bagogwe is derived from the Bigogwe hill and can be translated as “people from Bigogwe”. It is therefore more of a geographical than an ethnic allocation. By 1991, many Bagogwe had to give up their traditional way of life in favor of a life as farm workers. They were poorer than most of the rest of the Rwandan population, had no political influence, and married almost exclusively among themselves.

On January 23, 1991, the Tutsi rebel group RPF , which fought against the government from Uganda, occupied the city of Ruhengeri for one day . This became the occasion for an extermination campaign against the Bagogwe, which led to massacres, rape and looting of this ethnic group. The decision for these actions was made by the government of the time and the radical Hutu power movement.

The Bagogwe were collectively accused by the propaganda of supporting the RPF and held responsible for their attacks. With these reasons, the Hutu population was called upon to commit acts of violence. The military staged an alleged RPF raid on the important military camp of Bigogwe to spread fear among the Hutu and increase the willingness to use violence. The authorities cordoned off the area, which is difficult to access, to a large extent to prevent Bagogwe from escaping and reporters from entering the area. They refused to give Bagogwe, who wanted to leave the region, the necessary papers. The military assisted civilians in murder.

Hundreds of Bagogwe fell victim to the violence. When the area reopened months later, numerous surviving Bagogwe and Tutsi fled to Kigali . In August 1991, these events became known internationally through a release from the RPF, and some of them were referred to as genocide in the international media . The Rwandan government initially denied the killings, but outside reporters were able to visit the Bagogwe area and confirm the reports.

The massacres of the Bagogwe served - together with other local massacres in the years 1990 to 1993 - to test the procedures that were used in the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi . They are seen as the forerunners of this genocide.

In 2001, a Rwandan court convicted seven people from Kinigi municipality for genocide of the Bagogwe.

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