Rwanda, Unused Lyric For NewsRevue, 11 April 1994

Had I known what a terrible, genocidal civil war was opening up at the start of April 1994, I would not have written this lyric. The sentiments in it are fine; such a war is a bad idea; but not in the form of a musical parody.

_ RWANDA _

(To the Tune of “Oliver”)

[OPTIONAL INTRO
VOICEOVER:And now we go over to the United Nations Security Council, where the Rwandan Foreign Minister is explaining his country’s crisis to the Secretary General, Mr Boutros Boutros….Boutros.
RWANDAN:Please sir, we’ve gone to war.
BOUTROS:What?
RWANDAN:Please sir, we’ve gone to war.
BOUTROS:War!! But wait! Before I take this land to task, may I be so curious as to ask its name?
ALL:Rwanda….]

OPENING BIT

Rwanda, Rwanda, the nations so poor but it still goes to war;
Rwanda, Rwanda, they’d not go to war if they knew what’s in store.

MIDDLE BIT 1

Now an air crash, back lash, has left Bantu nations both leaderless;
To lose one’s misfortune, but to lose two leaders seems more like carelessness.

CLOSING BIT 1

Rwanda, Rwanda, Burundi’s had more of the poor and the war;
They must rue the day, they separated from Rwanda.

MIDDLE BIT 2

They are Bantu Hutus, with Twa pygmy tiny minorities;
Now there’s tribal war, they’ll tread on their Tutsi’s who were the authorities.

CLOSING BIT 2
Rwanda, Rwanda, colonial rule made these tribes lose their cool;
They must rue the day, the Belgians came and took Rwanda.

Below is the song Oliver, Oliver from the musical Oliver! – the relevant bit starts about 90 seconds into this video:

Here is a link to the lyrics to Oliver, Oliver.

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