Arusha Accords
From Freepedia
The Arusha Accords (also known as the Arusha Peace Agreement, or the Arusha negotiations) were a set of five accords (or protocols) signed by the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) and the Government of Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania on 4 August 1993, ending the civil war.
The talks were initially orchestrated by both the United States and France beginning on July 12 1992 under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity, and lasted until June 24 1993, with a final meeting in Rwanda July 19 to July 25, 1993. The protocols touched several points necessary for a lasting peace; from the rule of law, repatriation of refugees, reinstallation of people displaced by the war through power sharing and the fusion of both armies.
The accords stripped considerable power from the once all powerful president, then Juvénal Habyarimana. Most of the power was vested into the Transitional Broad Based Government (TBBG) that would include the RPF as well as the five political parties that formed the coalition government in place since April 1992, to govern until proper elections could be held.
The talks were largely a negotiation on power sharing between the rebel RPF and the Government of Rwanda, in which the internal divisions of the government side produced a settlement skewed in the rebels’ favour; some observers feel that Habyarimana didn’t do more to prevent this because he had never intended to abide by the outcome of the talks. In November 1992, before the divisive issues of refugees and army integration had been negotiated, Habyarimana called the Arusha Accords mere “pieces of paper.”, and he may have expected the talks to break down anyway. (This would explain why the opposition Foreign Minister, Boniface Ngulinzira lead the government delegation, and why he was repeatedly undercut by later vetoes from Habyarimana).
Of the 21 cabinet posts proposed in the new government, the former ruling party the Mouvement Républicain Nationale pour la Démocratie et le Développement (MRND), was given five posts including the defence portfolio. The RPF got the same number including that of the interior, the major opposition party, the Mouvement Démocratique Républicain (MDR) was given four posts including that of prime minister to be held by Faustin Twagiramungu.
The Parti social démocrate (PSD) and the Parti libéral (PL) each got three portfolios while the Parti démocrate chrétien (PDC) was given one.
As for the Transitional National Assembly (TNA), it was open to the RPF as well as other parties on condition they signed a political “code of conduct”. The Hutu-extremist Committee for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), also controlled by the previous President Habyarimana, was violently opposed to sharing power with the RPF, and at first refused to sign it. When it at last decided to agree to the terms, it was opposed by the RPF. The situation remained unchanged until the genocide.
The TBBG and the TNA was supposed to be established no more than 37 days after the signing of the accords, and the transitional period was not supposed to go beyond 22 months after which general elections would be held.
The accords also called for the putting into place a new armed force with the government supplying 60% of the men while RPF would take the remaining 40%. The negotiations on combining the army posed the biggest test of all subjects discussed and it caused the biggest headache.
The protocol was signed on October 3, 1993 a day before the signing of the accords by the President of the Republic, Juvénal Habyarimana and the president of the RPF, Alexis Kanyarengwe.
Further attempts to make progress were defeated by several assassinations culminating in the assassination of Habyarimana and Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira when their plane was shot down approaching the Kigali airport. With the death of Habyarimana the Rwandan genocide began, leaving more than 800,000 Tutsis and sympathizers dead.
United Nations and the Arusha Accords
On October 5, 1993, the United Nations Security Council comissioned a relief mission for Rwanda in resolution 872 (1993). The relief mission was titled United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (or UNAMIR), and its primary objective was to aid in the implementation of the Arusha Accords. Intended to ease tensions between the Hutu-dominated government and Tutsi rebels (mostly centered in the RPF), the initial UN presence was 2,548 military personnel (largely comprised of Belgian UN solders, the former ruling country of colonial Rwanda). The head of the mission was Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh of Cameroon, and its Force Commander was Canadian (then) Major-General Roméo Dallaire. UNAMIR, comissioned to facilitate the implementation of the Arusha Accords, would later provide a United Nations presence before, during, and after the Rwandan genocide.
Critiques
In the wake of the Accords’ failure and the genocide, the Accords were criticized (in hindsight) for pushing the Hutu-extremists into a corner. The Accords called for them to lose control of the army and the government, without compensation. That may have been a defensible position, but it was not a recipe for reliable conflict resolution.
Additionally, the United Nations has fallen under serious criticism both for being present before and during the Rwandan genocide, while refusing to intervene. Despite their military presence, repeated requests for UN intervention by Major-General Roméo Dallaire were refused before and throughout the genocide. In essence, the reasoning behind this refusal was that to engage in combat was beyond UNAMIR's mandate. As the genocide occurred, Major-General Roméo Dallaire requested the UN peace-keeping force be increased by 5,000 troops to faciliate a military intervention. Instead, the peace-keeping force was reduced to a mere 270 soldiers.
External links
- Tracing the roots of the Accords and details the international pressure leading to the Arusha talks, the talks themselves, and their failed implementation.
- undercurrentjournal analysis, and argument that the 163 articles could have been adjusted to create a consensus supporting them.
- The United Nations page on UNAMIR, providing the mandate, background, facts and figures, etc.
