Arusha Accords
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In African history, the Arusha Accords (also the Arusha Peace Agreement, or the Arusha negotiations) were a set of five accords (or protocols) signed in Arusha, Tanzania on August 4, 1993, by the government of Rwanda and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), under mediation, to end a three-year civil war. Organized by the United States, France and the Organization of African Unity, the talks began on July 12, 1992, and lasted until June 24, 1993, with a final week-long meeting in Rwanda, July 19 to July 25, 1993.
The people of Rwanda included primarily peasant Hutus and the aristocratic Tutsis. There were also the marginalized pygmoid Twa. The Arusha Accords established a Broad-Based Transitional Government (BBTG)[1] that included the insurgent Rwandese Patriotic Front (primarily Tutsi) with the five political parties that had composed a temporary government since April of 1992 in anticipation of general elections. The Accords also negotiated points considered necessary for lasting peace: the rule of law, repatriation of refugees both from fighting and from power sharing agreements, and the merging of government and insurgent armies.
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[edit] Agreements
Of twenty-one cabinet posts in the transitional government, the Mouvement Républicain Nationale pour la Démocratie et le Développement, the former ruling party, was given five, including the defence portfolio. The Rwandese Patriotic Front got the same number, including the portfolio of the interior. The major opposition party, the Mouvement Démocratique Républicain was given four posts, including the office of Prime Minister, (assigned to Faustin Twagiramungu). The Parti Social Démocrate and the Parti Libéral were each given three portfolios while the Parti Démocrate Chrétien was given one.
The Rwandese Patriotic Front was granted participation in the national assembly on the condition that they sign a code of conduct. The Accords also provided for establishment of a military composed of sixty percent government troops and forty percent from the Rwandan Political Front.
It was agreed that the transitional government and national assembly would be established no more than thirty-seven days after the signing of the Accords. The transitional period was limited to twenty-two months, after which general elections would be held.
The delegations signed the protocol on October 3, 1993, and President Habyarimana and RPF president Alexis Kanyarengwe signed the following day.
[edit] Impact
Intended as a negotiation for a sharing of power between the rebels and the Rwanda government, the talks produced an agreement that favored the Rwandese Patriotic Front because of disagreements within the government side. The opposition Foreign Minister, Boniface Ngulinzira, rather than Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, led the government delegation and Habyarimana repeatedly vetoed the delegation's decisions. The Arusha Accords stripped many powers from the office of the President, transferring them to the transitional government. Some observers stated that President Habyarimana never intended to abide by the outcome of the talks: in November of 1992, only midway through the talks, Habyarimana referred to the Arusha Accords as "pieces of paper". Hutu racial nationalists aligned with President Habyarimana continued to be strongly opposed to sharing power with the former insurgency, and to the Accords, which called for them to lose control of the army and the government without compensation.
On October 5, 1993, two days after the signing of the Accords, the United Nations Security Council commissioned Resolution 872 (1993) which established the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). Its objective was assistance in and supervision of implementation of the Arusha Accords. The initial UN presence was 2,548 military personnel, largely Belgian soldiers. The head of the mission was Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh of Cameroon, and its Force Commander was Canadian Major-General Roméo Dallaire.
On April 6, 1994 the airplane of Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira (also a Hutu) was shot down as it flew towards the Kigali airport. Responsibility for the attack is a matter of contention, with both the Hutu extremists and the RPF under suspicion. The assassination was ultimately the trigger for the Rwandan Genocide. Soldiers of UNAMIR were present before, during, and after the violence. The escalation of the hostilities was understood by the mission's commanders, although the UN did not approve intervention.
[edit] External links
- Tracing the roots of the Accords Details international pressure leading to the Arusha talks, the talks themselves, and their failed implementation.
- Undercurrent Journal analysis An argument that the 163 articles of the Arusha Accords could have been adjusted to create a consensus supporting them.
- The United Nations page on UNAMIR, including the mandate, background, facts and figures, etc.
