Why EAC must counter the Tutsi-as-invader narrative

The historical root of the “Tutsi-as-invaders” narrative - the claim of a regional plot to establish a Tutsi-Hima empire over Bantu-Hutu populations - lies in the Hamitic hypothesis, reinforced by deliberate colonial divide-and-rule policies. ALSO READ: Researcher warns genocide ideology in DR Congo 'at its peak' This theory contributed to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and is now being used to fuel violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). If the East African Community (EAC) does not urgently counter it, this ideology risks spreading further across the region. ALSO READ: Rising genocide ideology in Great Lakes demands urgent action – experts The regional bloc must act collectively to stop a toxic ideology before it takes deeper root in the community. Colonial scholars were not deployed in search of truth, but to advance a project summed up as “faire l’homme noir oublier ses ancêtres” - make the Black man forget his ancestors. ALSO READ: Veteran US diplomat urges action on Tutsi persecution in DR Congo When the colonialists arrived, they encountered established kingdoms such as Rwanda, Burundi, Buganda, Bunyoro-Kitara, Ankole, and Karagwe, alongside chiefdoms including Gisaka, Buha, Bushi, and Bunyabungo. These societies were bound by deep kinship ties, strengthened further through intermarriage. To control the region, colonial powers sought to dismantle this social fabric. Their scholars constructed theories to justify that disruption. Many kings and sub-kings traced lineage to Gihanga in the Rwanda-Burundi and eastern DR Congo region, or to Ruhanga in Uganda and Tanzania. The colonial project began by distorting these ancestral links, obscuring shared origins across the region. George Sandrart, a Belgian colonial administrator or Colonial Resident, and professor of history at Astrida – present day Butare or Huye – fabricated a myth in which Gihanga had three sons: Gatwa, Gahutu, and Gatutsi. Gatutsi was favoured for kingship while Gatwa and Gahutu were condemned to servitude. Similar frameworks were later reproduced in Uganda under different names. The intent was to institutionalize division. The broader aim was to fracture the Great Lakes region and govern through division. Rwanda became the testing ground: the ideology was introduced, refined over decades, and it ultimately contributed to the 1994 Genocide. Europeans labelled the Tutsi as invaders who had subjugated the so-called “indigenous” Hutu. That same framing is now resurfacing in eastern DR Congo, where political actors are enabling hate propaganda. Meanwhile, European governments remain largely silent as the Congolese Tutsi are targeted, a silence that echoes colonial legacies. ALSO READ: Silence on hate speech risks complicity in mass violations, Rwandan envoy tells UN The EAC must respond collectively. The “Tutsi-as-invader” narrative is not a local grievance confined to DR Congo. It is a colonial-era ideology being recycled across borders to justify division, dispossession, and violence. The EAC has both the platform and responsibility to reject and counter this ideology. Failure to act now risks allowing it to entrench further, at a far greater cost than the political discomfort of addressing it today. The writer is a media specialist, historian, and playwright.

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Why EAC must counter the Tutsi-as-invader narrative