Policing Rwanda: The transition to independence

This is the second part of a nine-part series extracted from Chapter Two of the recently published book, Policing a Rapidly Transforming Post-Genocide Society: Making Rwandans Feel Safe, Involved, and Reassured, authored by the Rwanda National Police (RNP). The Police Territoriale was a vast improvement on the Force Publique. The distinction between their missions distanced the Force Publique from the population and brought the territorial police closer. The difference in approach made the public much more cooperative towards the territorial police. As it wasn’t staffed entirely by foreigners, communication between its officers and the public became much easier. So did law enforcement. READ ALSO: Policing the Rwandan colony The distancing of the Force Publique from the population also reduced instances of bribery, robbery, and rape. The contempt the public felt for the Force Publiqe and the appreciation they felt towards the territorial police are captured thus: “The police officers were our brothers. They could approach us; they were not like the Congolese who had weapons that used to scare us. “Whenever we saw the Congolese approaching, we would run away in fear of being shot. However, with the police, we could even explain the problem to them. We even had the opportunity to be innocent while to those foreigners we were almost always criminals.” For colonialism, the failure by the Force Publique to properly assume its policing duties was a blessing in disguise. From this point of view, therefore, the contribution the territorial police made towards strengthening colonialism was the enhancement of consent from the population. Nonetheless, still the police remained aloof from the population. A policeman could not be found mingling with ordinary people: “When a soldier or policeman arrived in the population, it was like God just arrived. No one could dare say anything bad about him.” Increasingly, the force was integrated into state administration and the justice system as agents of the courts. At the same time, members of the police started to gain from the political environment of decolonization. Towards independence, the Resident encouraged the promotion of indigenous policemen to higher ranks in order to empower the territorial police in its transition to becoming a police force of a newly independent state. Officers seen as the cream of the crop began to benefit from this change in mindset. Policing the Transition to Independence During the transitional period, the colonial authorities decentralised command and control of the territorial police in preparation for independence in Rwanda and Burundi. Their headquarters were prepared to play an independent role. A parallel police academy was created in Rwanda. Thereafter, recruitment and training were carried out independently for each country, with candidate officers sent to the respective academies in Usumbura and Ruhengeri in Burundi and Rwanda, respectively. As independence neared, the residents encouraged the promotion of indigenous policemen to higher ranks. The soon-to-depart police leadership was tasked with identifying the best elements for what was intended to be systematic promotion that would leave in place an empowered territorial police ready for duties under the new authorities of an independent state. By the late 1950s, respect for the police had greatly diminished. Many people were in rebellious mood due to internal political upheavals, with many motivated to engage in acts of violence, arguing that they had been told: “power belongs to the Hutu.” The evolution of social disorder had individuals and institutions align to ethnic interests, a sentiment that was extended to members of the police as they became exposed to the politics of the time. They began to perceive their interests through ethnic lenses and to act accordingly, something that was reflected in the nature of the transition. Therefore, the social disorder that characterised the transition in Rwanda could not allow for an organized and smooth conversion. With independence marred by ethnicity-inspired violence, Tutsi police officers saw no future in the new order. With their Hutu colleagues eager to leave Usumbura to return home to work for their country, the Tutsi were forced to seek police work under a new status of refugee in Burundi. With their colleagues in Rwanda either jailed or killed and their relatives in exile, police officers who stayed in Bujumbura considered themselves lucky, a sentiment implied in a veteran’s rhetorical question: “Who were we to return to?” Before them, many FP elements, some of whom stayed in Rwanda and Burundi, had similarly demanded to return home at Congo’s independence in 1960. After a mutiny during which FP elements exchanged fire with their Belgian superiors, those who wished to depart were returned to Congo. Remnants absorbed Meanwhile, the Rwandans who opted to remain in Burundi and a few remaining FP troops were trained as gendarmes and integrated into that country’s gendarmerie force. The integration, however, came with limited rights, given the new status under which they found themselves as refugees. For instance, where a Burundian would sign a three-year contract, Rwandans were considered temporary employees and were allowed only one-year renewable contracts. The new independence government in Burundi also did not allow Rwandans to attend training courses for officers. The objective was to block foreigners from becoming officers in both the police and the army. A former policeman reflects: “we didn’t like it, but we didn’t’ have a choice.” It was not until the ascension of President Micombero to power that Rwandans came to enjoy equal treatment with their Burundian colleagues, at least on the issue of contracts. Downplaying the issue of nationality, the president maintained that what was important in the gendarmes was discipline, insisting that any officer found to lack discipline, whether Rwandan or Burundian, be fired. In general, Burundi’s transition was smoother than that of Rwanda. In Burundi, Belgians were gradually removed from powerful positions and replaced with Burundians. Belgians who felt that they did not wield sufficient power and authority in the new dispensation returned home, with the few who had accepted the new order submitting to the new authorities and remaining behind in more diminished roles. In Rwanda, meanwhile, the pre-independence disorder put limits to transition and ensured limited immediate indigenisation in both the administrative structures of the state and in the police.