Rwanda and neighbouring Burundi were assigned to Germany by the Berlin Conference of 1884,[32] and Germany established a presence in the country in 1897 with the formation of an alliance with the king.[33] German policy was to rule the country through the Rwandan monarchy; this system had the added benefit of enabling colonization with small European troop numbers.[34] The colonists favoured the Tutsi over the Hutu when assigning administrative roles, believing them to be migrants from Ethiopia and racially superior.[35] The Rwandan king welcomed the Germans, using their military strength to widen his rule.[36] Belgian forces took control of Rwanda and Burundi in 1917 during World War I,[37] and from 1926 began a policy of more direct colonial rule.[38][39] The Belgians modernised the Rwandan economy, but Tutsi supremacy remained, leaving the Hutu disenfranchised.[40]

In the early 1930s, Belgium introduced a permanent division of the population by classifying Rwandans into three ethnic (ethno-racial) groups, with the Hutu representing about 84% of the populace, Tutsi about 15%, and Twa about 1% of the population.[30] Compulsory identity cards were issued labeling (in the rubric for 'ethnicity and race') each individual as either Tutsi, Hutu, Twa, or Naturalised. While it had previously been possible for particularly wealthy Hutus to become honorary Tutsis, the identity cards prevented any further movement between the groups[41] and made socio-economic groups into rigid ethnic groups.[42]

The ethnic identities of the Hutu and Tutsi were reshaped and mythologized by the colonizers.[31] Christian missionaries promoted the theory about the "Hamitic" origins of the kingdom, and referred to the distinctively Ethiopian features and hence, foreign origins, of the Tutsi "caste".[31][43] These mythologies provide the basis for anti-Tutsi propaganda in 1994.[31]:421

You're so stupid and racist, you're probably scared of your own shit.