Central African Cushites (Watutsi)

[Galmudug]

These tall, slender Cushites of central africa who are the cousins of the somalis, Oromos and afars of eastern Africa. The long noses of some Rwandans, invoked historical and racial theories to explain how some Africans acquired such noses. According to early twentieth-century, such organization and such noses could only be explained by Europid descent, transmitted by way of the horn of Africa. Modern day genetic studies on the y-chromosome show the Tutsi to be 100% indigenous African (80% e3a, 4% e3, 1% e3b and 15%B).

[Galmudug]

Things that i must highlight regarding the Tutsi (Watutsi)

-The Tutsi are now one of the smallest of the three ethnic groups in Burundi and Rwanda; according to the United States Central Agency, 9% of Rwandansand 15% of Burundians are Tutsi.
A Human rights Watch analysis estimated that 77% of the Tutsi population of Rwanda was slaughtered in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.

-Tutsi aristocrats are the ones that display Central Cushitic phenotype while Tutsi commoners are a blend of Tutsi and Hutu (rate of intermarriage has been very high), who are often hard to distinguish from Hutus.

-The shorter Hutu people were earlier inhabitants of the area now known as Rwanda and Burundi. They spoke a Bantu language, related to the others still known as Bantu, spoken over about two thirds of Africa south of the Sahara and by about two-thirds of the people groups. In the 1300s, a tall, thin Cushite people migrated into the area from Somalia, coming as conquerors.

-The Tutsi came originally speaking a language related to Somali and Oromo. The Cushite descendants are known today by the name Tutsi.
(Anyone who say's that the Tutsi's were originally a Bantu speaking people is clearly wrong).

-The Tutsis were cattle-herding warriors, they brought with them humpless cattle, new to the area. The Bantu people were farmers and fishers, though they also kept the Zebu cattle popular all over Africa, and common among the Bantu peoples.

-The Cushite conquerors gradually settled into the local culture, adopted the local Bantu language, and merged generally with the Bantu Hutu. The language was changed, however, due to the culture and language of the conquerors, and it is through the many Cushite words and cultural indicators that much of the history has been clarified.

Tutsi Dominance
In Rwanda and Burundi the Tutsis have maintained their dominance over the centuries, even though they are in the minority. Though the language and culture of the Hutus and Tutsis merged into one, the Tutsis continued to maintain their separate autocratic identity, much like the Anglo-Norman nobility in Britain.

They remained distinct in physical features, names and other minor markers. They systematically maintained the social and political distinction.

Idris Muktar wrote me in July 2008 in the process of investigating the ties of his people with the Tutsi. He states, "Along time ago I used to hear that Tutsi of Rwanda/Burundi were descendants of the Oromo nation/tribe." Idris refers to Hima Beekha's comments, then says: "I was very surprised when I noticed that the meanings of all the words indicated have the same meanings to Oromo language we speak throughout the Horn without any difference."

-Burundi and Rwanda had already become separate Tutsi kingdoms before European occupation as the Tutsi-Hima empire broke up. The Tutsis were a minority in both territories, and currently make up about 15% of the Burundi population and about 9% in Rwanda. But do not overlook the fact that the Tutsis and Hutus had intermarried considerably, even with the tribal class distinctions.