RELIGIOUS CONFLICT IN 1990-1993 AMONG THE RWA: SECESSION IN A LUTHERAN DIOCESE IN NORTHERN TANZANIA

Abstract

FOLLOWING AN AGREEMENT betmJeen Germany and Britain in 1886, continental Tanzania (the former Tanganyika) fell under German domination during the early colonial era.l Ever since then the dominant cultural and social influence, on EKilimanjaro, as on Mount Meru to the west) remains that of the Lutheran church. From the end of the last century this church sent missionaries to Ikilimanjaro, then to Mount Nleru. Despite some initial setbacks, Lutheran evangelism rapidly became a huge success. At present, the Lutheran church is by far the most important church in this mountainous region of northern Tanzania. Unlike many parts of independent Africa, Tanzania has been noteworthy for the absence of serious turmoil, but the Rwa population which occupies the slopes of Mount Meru distinguished itself from l990 to 1993 by a conflict which opposed, within the Lutheran Church, the partisans of the clerical authorities and rebels desirous of secession. For some time, this conflict attracted the atterltion (and the blame) of the Tanzanian media to this little known ethnic group, of approximately 150,000 souls, called .Meru in Tanzania.2 In their language (ki-rYzva), thel call themselves the Rwa (n-rz(na in the singular, va-rwa in the plural) and should not be confused with the IRenyan Meru, with whom they have Ilo links wThatsoever. The objective of the present article is to describe the main stages of this conflict among Lutherans, to analyse its causes, the social forces which came into play, and finally, the consequences of this conflict on Lhe social life and institutions of ,he Rvva ethnic group. However, it is first necessary to outline the background to the main protagonists: the Tanzanian government and it's special form of socialism; the Tanzanian Lutheran church; and through an overview of its Inain institutions, the Rwa ethnic group itself.