Kiga people

The Kiga people, or Abakiga ("people of the mountains"), are an ethnic group located in northern Rwanda and southern Uganda. The Kiga speak a Bantu language called Rukiga. They are sometimes referred to as the Chiga or Kiga, while the singular form is Omukiga. Additionally, a large number of Bakiga were still living in Rwanda at the time of European colonization. An Anglo-German Agreement signed in Brussels on 14 May 1910, modified part of the boundary between British and German territories initially established as the parallel of one degree south latitude by the treaty of 1890. Modified were the sectors between the Congo tripoint and the junction of the Kakitumba and Kagera, comprising the present Rwanda-Uganda boundary, and between the junction and the second crossing of the parallel of one degree south latitude by the Kagera, comprising the western segment of the present Tanzania-Uganda boundary. Details of the final delimitation and demarcation of the Rwanda-Uganda boundary between the Congo tripoint of Sabinio and the southwestern branch (Lubirizi) of the Tshinzinga (Muvogero) are given in an Anglo-German Protocol signed at Kamwezi on 30 October 1911. Therefore, many Bakiga became Ugandans by defacto in 1911 when the current international boundaries of Uganda were formally finalized.

The Bakiga people live in southwestern Uganda and North Eastern Rwanda, mostly located in Kabale District (and Byumba Prefecture in Rwanda), and number about 8% of the population of Uganda or nearly 3 million according to Population Estimates. Another 3 million have been naturalised in other ethnic regions of Uganda such as Bunyoro, Tooro, Buganda, Northern Tanzania, Eastern Congo and Rwanda as well as those living in Europe and North America. This puts the total population of people of Kiga origin at about 6 million.

The Kiga people are believed to have originated in Rwanda as mentioned in one of their folk songs - Abakiga twena tukaruga Rwanda, omu Byumba na Ruhenjere, - meaning that all of us Bakiga, we came from Rwanda in Byumba and Ruhenjere (called Ruhengeri in Rwanda). Both Byumba and Ruhengeri are Rwandan cities. The Bakiga are believed to be the descendants of Kashyiga, who came to be called Kakiga son of Mbogo from the small Kingdom of Bumbogo in Rwanda later. He came to form the present community of the Bakiga of Kigyezi or Kigezi as a result of immigration.

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