The limited aims of Rwabugiri’s attack on Ijwi are best demonstrated in the initial results. Nkundiye was placed as chief over the south by the Rwandans, politically assuming his father’s mantle but without Kabego’s ritual position. Tabaro retained power in the north, and apparently over some hills in the south as well. Very few Rwandan chiefs were on the island during this initial stage. Those who were held only minimal effective power. They commanded only small numbers of Rwandan soldiers, while Nkundiye and Tabaro and their appointed representatives retained important judicial authority. Once the initial shock and looting were over, the Rwandan victory had few lasting social effects on Ijwi. Rwabugiri had effected a decapitation of the state, but had left the corpus quite intact.

Nkundiye more than restored the client relationship, in Rwandan eyes. Whereas Mwendanga and Kabego had sent gifts symbolizing (to Rwandans) the subordination of Ijwi to Rwanda, Nkundiye became the personal client of Rwabugiri, going himself to visit the court of Rwabugiri and fighting with great distinction in Rwabugiri’s wars in Bushi. But the real relation of this“king without drums” on Ijwi to his patron Rwabugiri is shown in the fact that he is said to have received command of several hills on Nyamirundi. This is not to say that he was more powerful than his father Kabego because of this extension of territory. To the contrary, it rather served to underscore Nkundiye’s position as a subordinate of Rwabugiri, dependent on him in the same way as Rwabugiri’s other chiefs. This was clearly not an extension of Ijwi power to Nyamirundi (in fact, it is little remembered on Ijwi); it reflected unequivocally an expansion of Rwandan influence to Ijwi.

The difference in Nkundiye’s position from that of his father is well illustrated in his relation to Tabaro. For the “king” of the south, the loss of independent status ended even his nominal authority in the north. What apparently most hurt Nkundiye’s pride was the retention by Tabaro of several hills in the south, including Muhyahya, just south of the forest belt accepted as the division of north and south, and on which Tabaro had an important residence. It was here, several years later, that Nkundiye and Tabaro were to clash. The events leading up to their battle are not remembered well on Ijwi; beyond the establishment of the residence itself, there seems to have been no overt provocative act to open hostilities. But the end result is quite clear: Nkundiye attacked Tabaro at Muhyahyaand took him prisoner. Eventually he killed him at Bihembe, a hill in the far south, and the sons of Tabaro fled to Rwanda. Nkundiye was momentarily master of the entire island, at least in his control of force if not in the loyalty of the people.

This victorywas the culmination of a conscious policy on the part of Nkundiye to establish himself as the supreme political authority for the whole island. But in Rwabugiri’s wars in Bushi, Nkundiye had fought with such distinction as to arouse the jealousy of his comrades in arms, who, it is said, plotted and whispered against him at the court. As if to confirm the calumny, Nkundiye was also engaged in a double-bladed policy of seizing the cattle brought back from Rwabugiri’s wars by those on the island who fought for Rwabugiri, and confiscating the cattle of those Rwandans on Ijwi who died in Rwabugiri’s wars, whether booty cattle or not. Some even assert that Nkundiye had killed other Rwandan soldiers in battle so as to claim their cattle.

Thus, within several years of the death of Kabego, Nkundiye had fallen out of favor at the Rwandan court, and the death of Tabaro only further removed him from favor. In fact, the attack on Tabaro seems likely to have been interpreted by Rwabugiri and a court already disposed against Nkundiye as a direct affront to the Rwandan king’s authority; after all, Tabaro could only have held his position through the grace of Rwabugiri, and there is no evidence that Rwabugiri authorized Nkundiye’s offensive against Tabaro.

Having eliminated Tabaro, Nkundiye busily attempted to consolidate his position on the island. Expropriating the cows of others to augment his own herds, Nkundiye distributed “a whole hill of cattle” among influential men on the island in his quest for popular support. This speaks as much to the perceived weakness of his political position as it does to his political acumen. Finally, Rwabugiri sent messengers to command Nkundiye’s presence at the court: all but one were killed by Nkundiye. The sole survivor was mutilated and sent back to Rwabugiri as testimony to Nkundiye’s regard for Rwabugiri’s word.Nkundiye then ordered his drums beaten (but not the ritual drums of the kingdom, which he never possessed) on one of the tall bluffs on the east of the island, looking across to Rwanda and within hearing distance of the Rwandan shore (and of Rubengera, Rwabugiri’s capital): it represented a defiant act by Nkundiye—a deliberate challenge to Rwabugiri.

With all these deliberate preparations on Nkundiye’s part to declare himself independent, it is surprising there was so little response to Rwabugiri’s inevitable attack. Indeed, there was almost no response at all: Nkundiye fled with a few friends, including his son, Katobera, to Tshofu, an island just off the westernshore of the lake, near present-day Kalehe. His installation and rule on Tshofu were apparently very harsh, driving off many people during his stay of several years. Finally, his son Katobera fell out with him over a question of land, and, for the second successive generation over the span of perhaps a decade, the plaintiff took his case to Rwabugiri, this time located on Ijwi.

Informants on Ijwi portray this as a virtual duplication of Nkundiye’s earlier appeal for assistance to Rwabugiri: Katobera offered his aid in capturing or killing Nkundiye; in return, Katobera would serve as client of Rwabugiri on Tshofu. Obviously such a plan appealed to Rwabugiri: he would at once gain his revenge against the insubordinate Nkundiye and extend his influence to islands over which he had never established his power—islands which moreover were separated from another Havu kingdom on the mainland by only several hundred yards of water. And so the attack against Nkundiye was launched.

The end was swift. With Rwabugiri’s canoes in sight of Tshofu, Nkundiye realized that there was little point in further flight, and no chance in open battle. Breaking his spear over his knee, he vowed never to be killed by Rwabugiri, and, with a trusted servant, threw himself into the lake and drowned. By spreading roasted sorghum on the water, so these accounts continue, the attacking Rwandans quickly recovered the body, which miraculously surfaced almost immediately. Again, as with Nkundiye’s father, they took the head and testicles and returned to Rwabugiri. Once again Rwabugiri had achieved personal vengeance against a single insubordinate “client”; at the same time, he had positioned himself strategically for new attacks on the mainland. Katobera left for Rwanda with his wife and never returned to Ijwi, leaving no descendants on the island.

There are many on Ijwi who say that in Rwanda Rwabugiri killed Katobera because “if you could betray your father, you could yet betray me.”On Ijwi this serves as an indication of the brutality of the political game in Rwanda.

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https://uk.amateka.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/kivu.pnghttps://uk.amateka.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/kivu-150x150.pngBarataHistory of kingsSocial & cultureThe limited aims of Rwabugiri’s attack on Ijwi are best demonstrated in the initial results. Nkundiye was placed as chief over the south by the Rwandans, politically assuming his father’s mantle but without Kabego’s ritual position. Tabaro retained power in the north, and apparently over some hills in the...AMATEKA