Arusha Accords - Agreements

Agreements

Of twenty-one cabinet posts in the transitional government, the Mouvement Républicain National 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 and the role of Vice-Prime Minister. 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. It is important to note that, because of political impasse and preparations by hardliners towards the genocide that would occur in April 1994, the Arusha Accord never created a broad based transitional government, so although each group was to be given different cabinet portfolios, this never materialized. Juvénal Habyarimana and the MRND stalled the negotiations.

The Rwandan Patriotic Front was granted participation in the national assembly. The Accords also provided for establishment of a military composed of sixty percent government troops and forty percent from the Rwandan Patriotic 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 August 3, 1993, and President Habyarimana and RPF president Alexis Kanyarengwe signed the following day.

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