Twa
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/* Distribution of the Twa */
{{for|the defunct airline TWA|Trans World Airlines}}
{{Infobox Ethnic group
|group=Twa
|image=[[Image:Batwa2.jpg|200px|]]
|caption=Mutwa with traditional bow and arrow
|poptime=80,000
|popplace=[[Rwanda]], [[Burundi]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo]], [[Tanzania]], [[Uganda]]
|rels= 7% [[Christian]]<ref>Johnstone, Patrick, and Jason Mandryk. <u>Operation World</u>. Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster Lifestyle, 2001. </ref>
|langs=[[Kinyarwanda]], [[Kirundi]], [[Rukiga_language|Rukiga]]
|related=[[Hutu]], [[Tutsi]]
}}
The '''Twa''', also known as '''Batwa''', are a [[pygmy]] people who were the oldest recorded inhabitants of the [[African Great Lakes|Great Lakes]] [[region]] of [[central Africa]]. Current populations are found in the nations of [[Rwanda]], [[Burundi]], [[Uganda]], and the eastern portion of the [[Democratic Republic of Congo]]. In 2000, they numbered approximately 80,000 people, making them significant minority groups in these countries<ref name="IRIN"> [http://www.irinnews.org/IndepthMain.aspx?IndepthId=9&ReportId=58604 Minorities Under Siege]: Pygmies today in Africa IRIN In-Depth [This article does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies.] </ref>.
There are also a number of southern "Twa" populations in Angola, Namibia, Zambia, and Botswana living in swamps and deserts far from the forest. These are little studied, and this article will deal only with the Twa of the Great Lakes region.
==History==
[[Image:Batwa women in Burundi.jpg|300px|left|thumbnail|Batwa women with traditional pottery]]
When the [[Hutu]], a [[Bantu languages|Bantu]]-speaking people, arrived in the region, they subjugated the Twa. Around the [[15th century]] AD, the [[Tutsi]], a Bantu-speaking [[Nilotic]] people, subsequently arrived and dominated both the Twa and the Hutu. The Twa speak the same language, [[Kinyarwanda]], as the Hutu and Tutsi. For several hundred years, the Twa have been a very small minority in the area (currently 1% in Rwanda and Burundi) and have had little political role.
The Twa are often ignored in discussions about the conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis, which reached its height in the [[Rwandan Genocide|Rwandan genocide]] of [[1994]].<ref name="IRIN"/>. About 30% of the Twa population of [[Rwanda]] died in the fighting.<ref name="irin">{{cite news | title = Minorities Under Siege: Pygmies today in Africa | url = http://www.irinnews.org/webspecials/pygmy/52529.asp | publisher = UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs| date = 2006| accessdate = 2006-12-11 }}</ref>
==Current situation==
[[Image:Batwa.jpg|right|thumbnail|A traditional dance of the Batwa]]
Traditionally, the Twa have been a semi-nomadic "[[hunter-gatherer]]" people group of the mountain forests. Due to clearing of the forests for agriculture, logging, development projects, or creation of conservation areas, the Twa have been forced to leave these areas and establish new homes. As they seek to develop new means of sustaining their communities (such as agriculture and [[livestock]] development) most are currently landless and live in poverty. The ancestral land rights of the Twa have never been recognized by their governments and no compensation has been made for lands lost.
Twa children have little access to education and their communities have limited representation in local and national government. Due to their pygmy [[ancestry]], they continue to suffer ethnic [[prejudice]], [[discrimination]], violence, and general exclusion from society.<ref>[[Forest Peoples Programme]]. http://www.forestpeoples.org/</ref><ref>CAURWA (Communauté des Autochtones Rwandais). http://www.catgen.com/caurwa/EN</ref>
==Support==
===Groups working with the Twa===
*[[Forest Peoples Programme]] - [[Moreton-in-Marsh]], [[England]]
*CAURWA (Communauté des Autochtones Rwandais) - [[Kigali]], [[Rwanda]]
*[http://www.aicm.org.uk African International Christian Ministry] - [[Kabale]], [[Uganda]]
*[http://www.pygmies.net Dr. Scott and Carol Kellermann] - [[Kanungu]], [[Uganda]]
*Geoffrey S. Proud
==Distribution of the Twa==
*Volcano National Park, Rwanda (resettled, 1970's - 1980s)
*Nyungwe Forest, Rwanda (resettled, 1970's - 1980s)
*Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda (evicted 1991)
*Mgahinga National Park, Uganda (evicted 1991)
*Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Congo (evicted)
*Virunga National Park, Congo (evicted)
*Gishwati forest, Rwanda (evicted for forest plantation and dairy production, then as refugee lands)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wrm.org.uy/bulletin/87/CentralAfrica.html|title=Central Africa: Nowhere to go; land loss and cultural degradation. The Twa of the Great Lakes|publisher=World Rainforest Movement|date=October 2004}}</ref>
==See also==
===Other Pygmy groups===
*[[Mbuti]] (Bambuti) people
*[[Baka (nomadic Central African people)|Baka]]
*[[Aka_(Pygmy_tribe)|Aka]]
===Researchers who studied pygmy culture and music===
*[[Colin Turnbull]]
*[[Simha Arom]]
*[[Mauro Campagnoli]]
*[[Jean-Pierre Hallet]]
==External links==
*[http://www.pygmies.info/ Pygmies of Central Africa] with photos and ethnographic notes
*[http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=1056 Batwa Pygmies of the Great Lakes Region], Minority Rights Group International, June 2000
*[http://www.minorityrights.org/?lid=1066 Twa Women, Twa Rights in the Great Lakes Region of Africa], Minority Rights Group International, November 2003
*[http://www.irinnews.org/InDepthMain.aspx?InDepthId=9&ReportId=58632 BURUNDI: The Batwa quest for equality ]: Pygmies today in Africa IRIN In-Depth [This article does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies.]
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:African Pygmies]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Rwanda]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Burundi]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of Central Africa]]
[[Category:African nomads]]
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