2023-06-19 15:06:41
‘Wonderful country, except that there are no trees… a bare plateau where a harsh wind blows’ (P. Ryckmans)
We have already pointed this out: Pierre Ryckmans never speaks of ‘colonizing’ or ‘civilizing’. On the other hand, he gladly uses the term ‘progress’. And he obviously has no hesitation on this point: he is convinced that this first globalization must be introduced and accelerated, for the good of Burundi and especially that of the Burundians. For the good of Burundians, which includes an obvious part of paternalism, since it is a question of deciding for oneself what is good for others.
Let’s see this in a few chapters, developed in several of these notes:
Kitega Market reopened in late 1916 or early 1917 by postmaster Ryckmans
Currency: Ryckmans wants to introduce it and generalize it. In 1919, we still used small German currency or that of the Latin Monetary Union, two currencies too rare in the region, or the rupee, with very high value. Since the Belgian occupation, many populations who were still unaware of the currency, appreciate it and need it. There is only one remedy: a considerable introduction of copper money, to restore the economic balance.
L’agriculture : Frequent famines lead Pierre Ryckmans to work on the calendar of lunations, seasons, and therefore sowing. A 60-page handwritten note follows, with observations after field observation and listening to people, then with common sense measures. We must put an end to the famines which have periodically devastated the east and the south of the country… The seasonal nature of crops with sowing and harvesting on fixed dates means that agricultural life is nothing but a succession of worries, risks and of threats. You have to understand the perpetual anxiety of the natives, in order to feed themselves, everything has to work as desired. Ryckmans recommends a first simple remedy: sow vegetables and starchy foods that can be harvested at any time and kept in the ground. And to mention cassava and sweet potato. Cassava seeds are therefore given to amateurs, with this formula: ‘cassava is worth in the ground, beans in the attic’, an aphorism on the way to becoming a proverb. Then, extend crops in the lowlands, without penalizing breeders and their livestock. Incidentally, the resident disagrees with what is written in Belgium: We have given simplistic, superficial and unfair assessments of the relationship between Batutsi and Bahutu, the tyranny exercised by them over them . It is not generally true that the agriculture of the small should give way to pasturage for the cattle of the large.
Ryckmans developed the idea of new processes: plows – there were only six of them at the time in Urundi, manure, seed selection, fodder crops for livestock, and new crops for export , like cotton and coffee, coffee that he considers promising…
Reforestation: Pierre Ryckmans described as soon as he arrived the bare plateau where a harsh wind blows. A very large part of the country is indeed deforested. Only 500 km² of forest remained at the time. The forests are insufficient, to exploit them is to destroy them. This situation must absolutely end. And so: immediately plant everywhere and especially in the posts of fast-growing trees, eucalyptus and acacias, plant at the king’s house and give seedlings to the chiefs. With the announcement that the Bahutus will be exempt from wood chores four years later… Then, planting valuable trees to replenish the forest wealth…
Finally, animal husbandry, with measures to be taken: to improve the fattening, the yield in meat and in milk by a better feeding of the cattle, and each time, the example like method: If the native sees at the agricultural station more beautiful cattle, fatter oxen, earlier calves and better milking cows than at home, he would hasten to come and learn how to obtain these results. In the process, Ryckmans wants to set up a model farm with veterinary medicine and suggests using oxen for traction.
1925 road
Roads : after a bridge over the Ruvubu, Ryckmans is busy with one of his major projects, his barabara(iv) – the ‘straight road’, unlike the path – which enshrines the typical image of the colonizer who builds. During three years, in episodes, he travels on horseback the mountain to find and realize the route of the road Bujumbura – Gitega. The first truck arrived in Bujumbura in 1925. Ryckmans’ goal was primarily economic penetration, but above all the desire to eliminate porterage, with its demanding drudgery. Ryckmans had, for example, raised the convoy of two whites with 200 porters, to denounce these excesses: We are going a little too hard.
The year 1922 was marked by several difficult episodes: an epidemic of rinderpest fought by vaccination, a violent rebellion and a famine, followed by another famine at the end of 1925.
Also quote medical development and schoolsand in particular the school for the sons of chiefs, with 140 pupils in Muramvya, including the young mwami, and, for the record, his positions in the cession of Kisaka and Bugufi to Great Britain (v).
Tensions with the Church and with companies
Colonial power was not homogeneous, with first of all differences of opinion within the administration itself, from the field to the Ministry of the Colonies, and sometimes tensions, conflicts or even personal attacks, as several times Pierre Ryckmans.
Beyond the colonial administration, the colonial system works on three key actors, what is called the ‘colonial trinity’: the State – the administration, the Churches – the missions, the capital – the companies. This ‘trinity’ is supposed to be a solid alliance, but these three pillars experience ambiguous relations and sometimes very strong tensions, throughout the colonial period.
Missions ‘disorganize traditional society’
At the mission of Buhonga – territory of Bujumbura
The churches are objective allies of colonization, but the missions are sometimes competitors or even opposed to the administration. The missions were few in number at that time, but, for the resident Ryckmans, it was clear that they disrupted traditional society, the missionaries being the direct rivals of the chiefs. Some conversions are indeed motivated by the desire to free themselves from traditional authorities. The resident regrets, for example, that a catechist declared to a chief that every Christian was released from his obligations vis-à-vis the chiefs. The resident therefore officially wrote a letter to the missions, to affirm that the Christians were the terror of the native chiefs. However, for him, the leaders are essential, their authority must therefore be strong and respected. And to conclude: The authority with which we ask you to walk hand in hand is the Belgian government but it is also the “Urundian” (sic) government that ours recognizes. This is how Ryckmans had to call the fiery Bishop Gordju, superior of the White Fathers, to order several times, asking him to respect his skills as a resident and the required forms… In short, for the convinced Christian that was Pierre Ryckmans, the civil servant prevails, and the State must always have primacy…
There are also tensions between the resident and businesses, with an example, that of the recruitment plan for Katanga. The Mining Union wants to recruit workers in Ruanda-Urundi to install them in the Congo. The resident Ryckmans first pleads for a refusal of this project: A dangerous policy and likely to do us harm. The objective, for him, is first and foremost the development of Burundi. Ryckmans is concerned about the risks to the living conditions, to the health and even to the lives of the recruited workers. The decision is however taken in Brussels. The resident can therefore no longer oppose it, but he will put all his energy into supervising the project and protecting the workers: preventing the companies from recruiting themselves, checking that the recruits will really be volunteers, obtaining guarantees on the monitoring the health and living conditions of recruits in Katanga, and planning trial phases.
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