Pygmies fight for survival

2006-05-09 22:09

Bweyeye - In a remote corner of Rwanda, Twa pygmies are fighting a losing battle against the modern realities of environmentalism.

Sandwiched between the Burundian border and the dense Nyungwe rainforest, the village of Bweyeye is on the frontline of a divisive struggle between the diminutive Twa and the long arm of the Rwandan law.

The Twa have been forced to abandon their hunter-gatherer lifestyle by a ban on such activity in the maze of giant tropical trees.

Many have descended into poverty and alcoholism.

Rwandan officials are keen to exploit Nyungwe's eco-tourism potential by protecting it.

But the Twa say the restrictions are destroying their community, which sits at the end of a track so potholed that even the most robust four-wheel drive struggles to do more than 10km an hour.

"I realise that nature reserves bring tourists and that tourists bring dollars, but we don't get to see any of those dollars here," said Felicien Hakizimana, a Twa father of three.

'They used to hunt elephants there'

"This ban is a problem because our ancestors lived from the forest, they used to hunt elephants there," he said. "Now we will soon die of hunger."

The 970-square-km Nyungwe forest provided the Twa with food, fuel and raw materials. But no longer.

While the forest ban is not new - it was imposed during the rule of president Juvenal Habyarimana that ended in the country's 1994 genocide - Rwandan officials are now enforcing it.

"Sometimes we do sneak in, but it's dangerous," says Manashe, a wizened barefoot 55-year-old Twa.

The fine for those caught in the forest is between 10 000 and 15 000 Rwandan francs (about R108 to R162). The fine is more than the monthly income of most in Bweyeye.

The Twa insist that if and when they do go into the forest it is to collect firewood, but privately some admit to catching monkeys, baboons and forest rats.

Bweyeye local administrator Octave Rukundo is aware of the hardships the ban has caused but says the law must be respected: "They say they go to get wood for fuel, but in fact they also take wood to sell.

"They hunt the animals. They make fires to get smoke to chase bees away and collect their honey, but those fires can burn the forest.

'These people don't want farmland'

"We have to find an activity to occupy them and prevent them from going into the forest."

Like other Rwandans, the Twa used to own land. But as long as they had the forest it was of little importance and plots were sold off to their Hutu and Tutsi neighbours.

It was only when the forest ban began to be enforced that they realised the importance of farming their own land.

When the Twa here can get work it is usually on their neighbours' land. They are paid 200 francs (about R1.40) a day.

"The real problem," said a non-Twa inhabitant of Bweyeye, "is that these people don't want farmland. What they want is to be able to go hunting in the forest and that's not going to happen."

- AFP