Yuhi V of Rwanda

Who is Yuhi V of Rwanda?

Yuhi Musinga, king of Rwanda, came to power in 1896 and collaborated with the German government to strengthen his own kingship. In 1931 he was deposed by the Belgian administration because of his inability to work with subordinate chiefs and his refusal to be baptized a Roman Catholic. His eldest son, Mutara III of Rwanda, succeeded him.

Musinga acceded to power as a young teen-ager, in a palace coup which overturned the short reign of Rutarindwa, the original successor to the powerful king Kigeri Rwabugiri of Rwanda. Over his reign Musinga struggled with three major issues. The first was the question of legitimacy. The overthrow of Rutarindwa was organized by members of the Bega clan, including Kanjogera, widow of Rwabugiri and Musinga’s mother. Such an accession to power brought into question the legitimacy of Musinga’s claims to kingship, claims normally defined by clear ritual protocol. The second concerned the relation of the royal court to the separate regions of the country, as following Rwabugiri’s death many areas occupied by his armies broke away, diminishing the domain of the kingdom. Third, Musinga’s accession was quickly followed by the arrival of German forces in the area, along with a powerful missionary order, the “Missionaires d’Afrique”, creating a colonial context that marked Musinga’s reign.