Kangura Magazine

“I’M SICK DOCTOR!!” “YOUR SICKNESS?” “THE TUTSI…TUTSI…TUTSIIIIIII….”

Kangura Magazine

On the cover of its fifth issue, Kangura magazine responded to public criticism of its anti-Tutsi content with the above cartoon titled “Kangura Syndrome.” Though “Kangura Syndrome” was intended by the magazine to satirize allegations that it was promoting bigotry, one need not even read beyond the cover to recognize the validity of its critics’ allegations. Originally founded by Hassan Ngeze during the civil war in 1990, Kangura emerged as an inflammatory and sensationalist news magazine. The magazine espoused the notion of Rwanda as a Hutu nation and framed its civil war as a Hutu-Tutsi contest for power. In this vein, the Tutsi refugee-led RPF was portrayed as a force seeking to reinstate the pre-independence Tutsi monarchy, to enslave the Hutu population, and to reduce them to a minority through violence. Moreover, Kangura explicitly conflated RPF soldiers and Tutsi civilians, presenting both as a unified threat to the Hutu population. This portrayal fueled a sense of imminent danger, with Kangura alleging that Tutsi accomplices within the country were collaborating with the RPF to target and eliminate Hutu. Most infamously, the magazine’s sixth issue introduced the “Hutu Ten Commandments,” a political manifesto that explicitly outlined Kangura‘s principles. These commandments condemned any association with Tutsi, branding it as treason, and specifically targeted Tutsi women, discouraging interethnic romantic relations and urging Hutu to “stop having mercy on the Tutsi.” Kangura and its peers in the media played an instrumental role in psychologically preparing the Rwandan public for a genocide against Tutsi.

Quick Links

First Archive of Kangura Issues

Second Archive of Kangura Issues

ICTR Appeal Trial for Hassan Ngeze

The Legal Argument Against Ngeze and Incitement

Bibliography

Baines, Erin K. “Body Politics and the Rwandan Crisis.” Third World Quarterly 24, no. 3 (2003): 479–93.

Benesch, Susan. “Inciting Genocide, Pleading Free Speech.” World Policy Journal 21, no. 2 (2004): 62–69.

Melvern, Linda. Conspiracy to murder: The Rwandan Genocide. London & New York: Verso, 2006.

“The Hutu Ten Commandments.” No Greater Love. GM&A Publishing, 2019.

“The Prosecutor v. Ferdinand Nahimana, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, Hassan Ngeze (Appeal Judgment),” ICTR-99-52-A. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, November 28, 2007.

Photo Source

Kangura, vol. 5, p.1. 1990.