ABSTRACT
Colonialism, in Rwanda and Burundi, existed on multiple levels: among them were the competing missionaries on the ground, the Belgian colonial state and the international system which formally mandated the Belgian presence. The control over education exercised by missionaries was a firmer foundation for lasting influence than the corridors of the UN. The weakness of the colonial state in Burundi and Rwanda was mirrored by the fragility of the new republics. Burundi and Rwanda both became independent in July 1962. UPRONA, founded by Mwambutsa’s son Louis Rwagasore, comfortably won the Burundi’s first elections in September 1962 with fifty-eight out of sixty-four seats. White Fathers such as Guy Mosmans proposed the laicisation of post-colonial civil society, but secularists found it easier than ex missionaries to operate in it.
