Rubengera

Rubengera is a community in Rwanda, part of the Mabanza commune. It is the capital of Karongi District in Western Province, Rwanda.

Rubengera
Rubengera
Coordinates: 2.051923°S 29.414434°E
Country	Rwanda
Province	Western
District	Karongoni
Area
• Total	47 km^2 (18 sq mi)
Population  (2012 census)
• Total	33,019
• Density	700/km^2 (1,800/sq mi)
Climate	Aw

Rubengera lies in the western mountains of Rwanda between Lake Kivu and the divide that separates the catchments of the Congo River to the west and the Nile. Around 1880 King Kigeli Rwabugiri created a new royal residence at Rubengera on his return from a military expedition to today's North Kivu. It was innovative in its much grander scale than previous residences. Despite its remote location, members of the Tutsi aristocracy were drawn to the new court.[1] The court included granaries in which food was stored, in part to feed the members of the court, but in part to support a supply of relief food to the poor of the region, particularly before the next harvest.[2]

A Protestant mission was established at Rubengera in 1909.[3] In World War I was Rubengera a German prisoner-of-war camp for captured Belgian soldiers, military hospital for German soldiers and headquarters of the Commander in Chief of the German troops in Rwanda, Max Wintgens.[4] In 1938 a track was opened that connected Rubengera to Kabgayi to the east. This is the basis for the main road that today connects the region to the east.[5] During the Rwandan genocide, on 9 April 1994 militiamen from Rutsiro attacked the Tutsis in Mabanza. On 12 April, two hundred refugees from the presbytery were evacuated by bus to the Gatwaro Football Stadium in Kibuye, where most of them were killed.[6] Just over ten percent of the Tutsis in Rubengera survived the massacre.[7]

In July 2012 it was announced that the Rubengera Technical Secondary School would open in January 2013, giving training in carpentry and wood technology. The private school was launched by the Protestant "Abaja ba Kristo" sisterhood.[8]

References

Citations

1. Kimonyo 2008, p. 355.
2. Pottier 1986, p. 222-224.
3. de Lame 2005, p. 67.
4. Innocent Kabagema. Ruanda unter deutscher Kolonialherrschaft 1899-1916. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften. 1993, p. 298
5. de Lame 2005, p. 72.
6. Morel 2010, p. 961.
7. Verwimp 2004, p. 237.
8. Rubengera Gets New Technical Secondary School.

Sources

• de Lame, Danielle (2005). A Hill Among a Thousand: Transformations And Ruptures in Rural Rwanda. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-299-21560-6. Retrieved 2013-03-23.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Kimonyo, Jean-Paul (2008-04-01). Rwanda un génocide populaire. KARTHALA Editions. p. 355. ISBN 978-2-8111-4261-2. Retrieved 2013-03-27.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Morel, Jacques (June 2010). La France Au Coeur du Génocide des Tutsi. MOREL Jacques. p. 961. ISBN 978-2-84405-242-1. Retrieved 2013-03-27.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Pottier, Johan P. (April 1986). "The Politics of Famine Prevention: Ecology, Regional Production and Food Complementarity in Western Rwanda". African Affairs. Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal African Society. 85 (339). JSTOR 723013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• "Rubengera Gets New Technical Secondary School". News of Rwanda. 17 July 2012. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
• Verwimp, Philip (July 2004). "Death and Survival during the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda". Population Studies. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Population Investigation Committee. 58 (2): 233–245. doi:10.1080/0032472042000224422. JSTOR 4148232.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)