 The cover of the November 1991 issue ofKangura. The title states, "Tutsi: Race of God", while the text to the right of the machete states, "Which weapons are we going to use to beat the cockroaches for good?". The man pictured is the second president of the First Republic,Grégoire Kayibanda, who made Hutu the governing ethnicity after the1959 massacres. | |
| Editor | Hassan Ngeze |
|---|---|
| Categories | Political,Propaganda |
| Frequency | Bimonthly[1] |
| First issue | 1990 |
| Final issue | 6 April 1994 |
| Country | Rwanda |
| Based in | Gisenyi |
| Language | French andKinyarwanda |
Kangura was aKinyarwanda andFrench-language magazine inRwanda that served to stoke ethnic hatred in the run-up to theRwandan genocide. The magazine was established in May 1990, a few months prior tothe invasion of the rebelRwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and continued publishing up to the genocide. Edited byHassan Ngeze, the magazine was a response to theRPF-sponsoredKanguka, adopting a similar informal style. "Kangura" was a Rwandan word meaning "wake others up", as opposed to "Kanguka", which meant "wake up".[2] The journal was based inGisenyi.
The magazine was the print equivalent to the later-establishedRadio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), publishing articles harshly critical of the RPF and ofTutsis generally. Its sensationalist news was passed by word-of-mouth through the largely illiterate population. Copies ofKangura were read in public meetings and, as the genocide approached, duringInterahamwe militia rallies.[2]
 Human skulls at the Nyamata Genocide Memorial Centre |
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The journal was financed by military officers,MRND members and an intelligence agency of the government. Supporters included Lt.-Col.Anatole Nsengiyumva andProtais Zigiranyirazo, both later charged by theInternational Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Two language editions were published twice a month in batches of 1,500 to 3,000 copies. Some of the early editions were published on government printing presses. Due to the magazine's close ties with the government, it came to be viewed as a vehicle for the government of PresidentJuvénal Habyarimana to test ideas, thoughKangura did not hesitate to criticize the president over perceived concessions made during thenegotiations in Arusha with the rebelRwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).[2]Kangura criticised democracy as sowing discord between Hutu and called for rallying around the MRND.[3]
Kangura was key in fomenting extremism and, in turn, became the mouthpiece of theCDR upon its founding in February 1992. The CDR was an extremist offshoot of the MRND that campaigned for a "pure Hutu" nation and prohibited Rwandans with Tutsi grandparents from joining. While initially formed to give the MRND and Habyarimana deniability for the positions espoused, the CDR soon developed a life of its own.Roméo Dallaire, the Force Commander ofUNAMIR, theUnited Nations peacekeeping force, would later refer toKangura as "their[the CDR's] propaganda rag" and a "scurrilous extremist newspaper".[4]
The extensive connections ofKangura to the ruling elite appeared to give the magazine inside knowledge. "People who might otherwise have ignored [the magazine] paid attention, becauseKangura seemed to know what was going to happen before it did," stated Kenyan journalist Mary Kimani.[5]
An article in the sixth issue, published December 1990, was the first publication of the "Hutu Ten Commandments", which decreed that Hutus who interacted with Tutsis were traitors.[2][6] The propaganda ofKangura targeted women in particular, accusing Tutsi women of seducing Hutu in order to spy on them and mollify them, but only bearing the children of other Tutsi.[7] Another article of December 1990 claimed that the Tutsi were prepared for a war. The back of issue six was a picture of French presidentFrançois Mitterrand with the caption, "It is during hard times that one comes to know one's true friends."[8]
An editorial in the 9 February 1991 issue stated: "Let us learn about the inkotanyi[RPF supporters] and let us exterminate every last one of them". In a November 1991 edition, Ngeze asked "What tools will we use to defeat the Inyenzi once and for all?" alongside an image of amachete.[9] The March 1993 issue advised, "Acockroach gives birth to a cockroach... thehistory of Rwanda shows us clearly that a Tutsi always stays exactly the same, that he has never changed."Kangura further asserted that some who said they were Hutus were in fact Tutsis and that these individuals could be recognized because they "lacked commitment to the Hutu cause" and that the RPF had launched its 1990 invasion in order to reestablish theTutsi monarchy and enslave the Hutus.[8]
The writings of founder Ngeze in the journal regularly hinted at exterminations. In issue 54, of March 1994, Ngeze stated that the RPF had a list of 1600 people who they would kill if they ever took power and warned "the accomplices of the enemy are well known. Therefore theInyenzi should have the courage to understand that they are making a slight error, they shall be exterminated."[10]
Kangura also implied threats againstJuvénal Habyarimana, especially after its funders moved from the MRND to the CDR. The December 1993 issue stated that a Hutu soldier enraged by theArusha Accords would soon assassinate the president. The January 1994 issue predicted thatHabyarimana would be killed in March.[11]
Kangura had stopped publishing by 6 April 1994, when the plane carrying PresidentsHabyarimana andCyprien Ntaryamira ofBurundi wasshot down overKigali.[5] This sparkedthe genocide. Over 800,000 people were killed, mostly Tutsis but including Hutu moderates who refused to take part in the massacres or attempted to protect Tutsi from the militias.
Hassan Ngeze, the founder, editor and accountant forKangura fled the country as the RPF took control. He was arrested in 1997 and charged by theInternational Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for his involvement withKangura, as well as for his supervision of massacres in his home province ofGisenyi. His trial, grouped with that ofRTLM co-foundersFerdinand Nahimana andJean-Bosco Barayagwiza, was the first to establish that media organizations could be held responsible forinciting genocide since the 1946 conviction ofNazi publisherJulius Streicher. In 2003, Ngeze was sentenced tolife imprisonment; Nahimana and Barayagwiza were also convicted.
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