Impact
Intended as a negotiation for the sharing of power between the rebels and the Rwandan government, the talks produced an agreement that favored the Rwandese Patriotic Front because of disagreements within the government. 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 1992, 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 both 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, 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.
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 a catalyst for the Rwandan Genocide. It was one of several assassinations that occurred with similar political motives as moderates were targeted by the CDR, the hardline faction once part of the MNRD. Soldiers of UNAMIR were present before, during, and after the violence. The limitations of the UN, due to national sovereignty and the need to remain impartial when conducting Chapter 6 peacekeeping operations, led to the impotence of UNAMIR to do anything more than bear witness to the genocide. International powers such as France, the UK and the US did not have the political motivation to send troops or financial support for UNAMIR, although many of these countries were able to remove their foreign nationals from danger.
Read more about this topic: Arusha Accords
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