How did German and Belgian colonial policies affect relations between Hutu and Tutsi communities?

European colonial policies significantly exacerbated ethnic tensions in Burundi by rigidifying social categories that were previously more fluid. During the periods of German and, more notably, Belgian administration, colonial authorities operated under the flawed assumption that ethnicity could be clearly defined by physical characteristics.12

Influenced by their own cultural biases, the colonizers favored the Tutsi—perceived as having lighter skin and greater height—viewing them as superior to the Hutu. Consequently, the administration granted the Tutsi preference in local governance, which entrenched the concentration of power within the Tutsi minority. By institutionalizing these distinctions, the colonial system transformed what had been flexible social identities into rigid ethnic categories, contributing significantly to the country's subsequent postcolonial ethnic conflicts.12