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Unknown to many, the mood of intolerance, hatred and animosity begun to emerge in Rwanda and Burundi in the early 1960's in a very unpredictable manner. It matured over the years and later resulted in the ghastly genocide of 1994 in Rwanda. Our writer, Geoffrey H. Kaiza, a Burundian journalism student living in Kenya, reports that former colonial masters could have a share of blame for the Bahutu/Batutsi conflict in the two Eastern Africa countries.

Tribal clashes, carried out in the tiny and twin countries of Rwanda and Burundi have taken many lives. The weak and the strong, the young and the old have all not been spared.

The background of deep hatred between Bahutu and Batutsi of Rwanda and Burundi, is traced back to the colonial times shortly after the Berlin Conference in 1884.

After the partition of Africa, Germany established colonial rule in both Rwanda and Burundi. Unfortunately, the defeat of Germany in the First World War allowed Belgium to take control of the countries. At that time, Belgian people were well known to be the most divided society.

The Belgian society was stratified into castes. The Walloons were nobles, whereas the Flemish were considered lower class people. There was hatred between the two. This was exported and could not be hidden in their colonies of Rwanda and Burundi.

Meanwhile, around the Sixteenth Century, the kingdom of Rwanda-Urundi was one of the most organised states in East Africa. Despite being stratified into three major ethnic groups, there was no ethnic hatred.

The Batutsi, who were pastoralists, formed the royal family. The Bahutu, on the other hand, were simply agriculturalists, while the small Batwa tribe were hunters and potters.

Although the ruling class was the Batutsi in Rwanda and Burundi, only a minority of Batutsi were nobles and rulers. Most were poor and benefited little materially from the caste system.

Social mobility and intermarriage blurred the caste distinctions. The division became more of class than ethnicity.

Despite some minor differences, Bahutu and Batutsi coexisted amicably. Matters of concern were sorted out peacefully by a council of elders, whose members were drawn from both sides.

When the Belgians came however, they introduced the policy of "divide and rule" to control and exploit the enormous natural and human resources in Rwanda-Urundi.

In Rwanda for instance, they introduced education for the Batutsi only. By so doing, Belgians advanced the Batutsi at the expense of the Bahutu. Consequently, only learned Batutsi were given good jobs. The Belgians did this to create hatred between Bahutu and Batutsi. It worked.

The majority Bahutu, who felt oppressed, went violent and expelled Batutsi from Rwanda during the years of 1959 to 1973.

This can be considered the beginning of an uprising that led to the horrors of 1993 and 1994 genocide in Burundi and Rwanda respectively. It was a question of monopoly of power by the minority Batutsi, against the wishes of the majority Bahutu.

In 1959, events began to run out of control. King Mutara Rudahigwa of Rwanda died mysteriously while on a visit to Bujumbura in Burundi. In August the same year, the first political party was formed under the name Union Nationale Rwandaise -UNAR (Rwandese National Union).

Though it included some Bahutu, it was pro-monarchy, pro-Tutsi, and anti Belgian. In October that year, UNAR was countered by the formation of the Movement for Emancipation of Bahutu.

UNAR activists attacked a Bahutu sub-chief who was a key figure in Permehutu Party. In retaliation, the Bahutu attacked Tutsi chiefs who belonged to UNAR. Rwanda's communal violence had begun.

Across the country, Bahutu militias armed with machetes and bows and arrows, set fire on thousands of huts belonging to Batutsi, killing mercilessly all Batutsi leaders. Women and children were not spared. Several hundreds of thousands of people died, while many of those who survived went on exile in neighbouring countries.

Later, the colonial masters switched support to Bahutu through what was called Bahutu Manifesto, which focused on criticising the social, economic and political monopoly of the Batutsi elite.

In 1962, the Bahutu staged a revolution and seized power. Many Batutsis went on exile. Those who managed to reach the border were allowed into the relatively peaceful Burundi.

From Burundi, they launched several attacks through the armed wing of UNAR known as Inyenzi (the cockroach) to destabilise the Bahutu regime of Kigali, Rwanda. Pressure begun to mount between Kigali and Bujumbura.

In 1963, Prince Louis Rwagasore, son of King Mwanbutsa, was shot dead by Kageorgis, a mercenary hired by the Belgian colonial power. This shocking event occurred one year after Rwanda and Burundi got their independence.

In 1966, the kingdom of Muramvya in Burundi was attacked by angry Bahutu armed with machetes and clubs. Six years later, the Batutsi government of Burundi led by Lt Colonel Michael Micombero, carried out an unprecedented massacre against Bahutu people. The main target was the educated class.

Thousands of the Bahutu perished in the genocide. The horrors followed an alleged aborted coup of 1972 masterminded by a group of top Bahutu army commanders against the Tusti government.

Tension continued to mount between Kigali and Bujumbura. Abusive languages were aired on radio in Rwanda and Burundi as a result of deep hatred between President Gregory Kayibanda (Bahutu) of Rwanda and Lt Michael Micombero (Batutsi) of Burundi.

Conflicts erupted in Burundi with the assassination of President Ndadaye alongside other government officials.

The Bahutu went on the offensive, tying their Batutsi neighbours with ropes and hacking them to death. The unforgiving Batutsi soldiers then marched into Bahutu villages, causing hundreds of thousands of Bahutu peasants to flee from their homes.

On April 6, 1994, President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi were shot down in Kigali. They had come from Arusha, where they had gone to sign a peace agreement between the government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front-RPF (then a rebel group).

The horror that engulfed Rwanda was about to begin. Bahutu military blamed RPF and instigated widespread, horrific massacres of innocent Batutsi. Many believe that what they did was in revenge of what had happened to them some years ago.