Are There Any Historians Who Can Teach Us More About Rukara Rwa Bishingwe?

David Himbara
1 min readMay 14, 2017

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I have always been fascinated by Rwandan history. And yet there are so many gaps in my knowledge of it.

Take the case of Rukara Rwa Bishingwe. This photo is the only known image of Rukara.

Rukara lived during the reign of Musinga and his mother Kanjogera from 1896 to 1931. Rukara had a conflict with the Catholic Church which was steadily entrenching itself in Rwanda.

Eventually there was a confrontation between Rukara and Padiri Paulin Lupiyasi. In one meeting the two men had a physical fight that ended in the death of Padiri Paulin Lupiyasi. Rukara was hanged shortly after.

Can anyone teach us more about this historical episode?

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David Himbara

Educator, Author, and Consultant in Socioeconomic Development & Governance. Affiliated Scholar at New College, University of Toronto, Canada. 🇨🇦