While Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, Rwandans remember King Yuhi V Musinga, who breathed his last on December 25, 1944, in exile in Moba, in DR Congo. There is controversy surrounding the exact date of his death. The date widely cited is January 13, 1944, a date announced by the colonial administration, specifying the cause of his death as natural. However, according to accounts from Rwandan elders, social media posts by renowned Rwandan researchers, and sources such as Rwanda Education Board (REB), Musinga breathed his last on December 25, 1944. Some of these local sources specify that the cause of his death was not natural, but that he was murdered. That is why there should be no controversy around his death, because national documents from the REB are more reliable than Belgian colonial records. We believe the colonial administration, especially the white fathers, did not want his death to coincide with the birth of Jesus, ‘their king’. Why did the Belgians exile him from his kingdom? There are two main reasons that caused his downfall. The primary reason is that he resisted colonial authority and refused to convert to catholicism. However, there is another overlooked reason: the rancor against him because he sided with the Germans in their fight against the Belgians. On the one hand, the colonial authority did not want him to disturb their policies, and on the other hand, the white fathers, whose mission to make Rwanda a catholic kingdom in central Africa was hampered by his refusal to be baptized. During World War I, King Musinga joined the Germans and fought with them against the Belgians. For two and a half years (1914 to mid-1916), Rwandan troops of 1,000 fighters, including the Indengabaganizi, Iziruguru, and Indugaruga, with a few German officers, defeated the Belgians and their Congolese troops of some 7,000 soldiers, a defeat that the Belgians would never forgive Musinga. To defeat the Rwandan troops, the Belgians were supported by the British. They crossed the volcanoes through Uganda and proceeded to Kigali, which was captured on May 6, 1916. Nyanza collapsed on May 18, 1916. A British officer, Major Stacke, wrote later: Without the British assistance, the Belgian invasion of Rwanda could never have succeeded. When German indirect rule came to an end, things got worse for Musinga. The rancor against him for his support of the Germans caused deep bitter hatred toward him. The first thing the Belgians did when they took power was to throw him in prison on March 25, 1917. They proceeded by stripping him of his right to provide justice and his right to appoint and dismiss any of his subordinates without permission from the Belgian resident. Without such authority, the king's title was reduced to being merely honorary, without any power. Despite defying Belgian rule and the white fathers' request for baptism, Musinga was dismissed from power on November 12, 1931. He left his palace in Nyanza on November 14, 1931, with his wives and children. Belgian authorities authorized 700 servants to accompany him on a trip that lasted a week from Nyanza to Kamembe. He stayed in Kamembe for a period of 9 years, until he was exiled further to Moba, in 1940, where he breathed his last four years later. After he heard about the death of his father, King Rudahigwa pleaded with the Belgians to allow him to bring his remains to Rwanda, but they refused. When Musinga breathed his last, Rudahigwa did everything he could to bring his father back, saying, 'I want to return my father's remains; given you will no longer be affected by his actions since he has passed away.' They told him, 'The money required is too much; you won't be able to get it.' He replied, 'Just let me try; maybe I will fail to raise it, but I can at least try,' and they said, 'Then get the money,' wrote historian and retired Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Nyirimanzi. He further explained that Rudahigwa secured the necessary funds, but the Belgians took the money and still refused to release the body, taking it to Belgium instead. Now, more than 80 years later, the body of King Yuhi V Musinga is still kept somewhere in Brussels. Why don't we bring his remains back to Rwanda and give him a solemn interment? He was the King of Rwandans, not of Belgians, why should Belgium continue to keep his body? A question for which we have no answer.
