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Agreements Signed Before the Rwanda Genocide

The Nation (Nairobi)
ANALYSIS
April 6, 2004
Posted to the web April 6, 2004
Arusha
The Arusha Peace Accords between the government of Rwanda and the rebel
Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) were signed on August 4, 1993. The signing
crowned laborious negotiations in Arusha from July 10, 1992, to June 24, 1993,
and in Kinihira, Rwanda, on July 19-25, 1993.
The pacts also ratified several "protocols" earlier signed at different places.
The protocols touched on several points necessary for lasting peace - the rule
of law, repatriation of refugees, resettlement of people displaced by the war,
power sharing and the fusion of both armies.
The accords stripped considerable power from the president. Most of it was
vested in the Transitional Broad-Based Government (TBBG) that would include RPF
and the five political parties forming the coalition government in place since
April 1992.
Of the 21 Cabinet posts proposed in the new government, the former ruling
party, the Mouvement R publicain Nationale pour la D mocratie et le D
veloppement (MRND), was given five posts, including Defence.
RPF got the same number, including that of the Interior, while the major
opposition party, the Mouvement D mocratique R publicain (MDR) was given four,
including that of prime minister, to be held by Mr Faustin Twagiramungu.
The Parti Social D mocrate (PSD) and the Parti Lib ral (PL) each got three
portfolios, while the Parti D mocrate Chr tien (PDC) had one.
As for the Transitional National Assembly (TNA), it was open to RPF as well as
other parties on condition that they signed a political "code of conduct."
Opposed to sharing power with RPF, CDR first refused to sign it. When it at
last agreed to the terms, it was opposed by RPF. The status quo remained until
the genocide.
There were 18 political parties registered in Rwanda in 1994.
TBBG and TNA were supposed to be in place within 37 days after the signing of
the accords, and the transitional period was not supposed to go beyond 22
months, after which the General Election would be held.
The accords also called for the putting into place of a new armed force with
the government supplying 60 per cent and RPF take care of the rest. The
negotiations on combining the army posed the biggest challenge of all subjects
discussed.
The protocol was signed on October 3, 1993, a day before the signing of the
accords by President Juvenal Habyarimana and the RPF president, Alexis
Kanyarengwe.

   

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