UNAMIR
|
|
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda was a relief mission instituted by the United Nations to aid the implementation of the Arusha Accords, signed August 4, 1993 in order to ease tensions between the Hutu-dominated Rwandese government and the Tutsi rebels (for the most part centered in the RPF). Its mandate included "ensuring the security of the capital city of Kigali; monitoring the ceasefire agreement, including establishment of an expanded demilitarized zone and demobilization procedures; monitoring the security situation during the final period of the transitional Government's mandate leading up to elections; assisting with mine-clearance; and assisting in the coordination of humanitarian assistance activities in conjunction with relief operations."
| Contents |
Establishment
UNAMIR was established on 5 October 1993 by Security Council resolution 872 (1993), and soon entered service in the capital, Kigali. The head of the mission was Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh of Cameroon, and its Force Commander was Canadian Brigadier-General Roméo Dallaire. The 2,548 military personnel given to the mission were in place, backed up by local military and civilian authorities. A large portion of the UN team consisted of Belgian soldiers, as Rwanda had formerly been a Belgian colony.
During the remainder of 1993, both sides of the Rwandan struggle appeared committed to holding to the ideals of the Arusha Accords, and reaffirmed such commitment to creating a new, broad-based transitional government by the end of the year.
Squabbling between interested parties delayed the UNAMIR goal of assisting the formation of the transitional government following the inauguration of President Habyarimana on January 5, 1994. The violent clashes that followed, including the assassinations of 2 major political leaders and the ambush of a UNAMIR-led convoy of RPF forces led the UNAMIR forces to move to a more defensive footing. UNAMIR thus contributed support to the military and civilian authorities in Rwanda, while the UN continued to place pressure on Habyarimana and the RPF to return to the ideas set forth in the Accords.
On April 5 1994, the UN voted to extend the mandate of UNAMIR to 29 July 1994, after expressing "deep concern at the delay in the establishment of the broad-based transitional Government and the Transitional National Assembly" and "concern at the deterioration in security in the country, particularly in Kigali."
Genocide
On April 6 1994, a plane carrying President Habyarimana and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi was shot down near Kigali. What followed was the collapse of the unstable peace in Rwanda and the genocide that claimed approximately 800,000 Tutsi and Hutu supporters over 100 days, marking one of the worst genocides in history.
Among the first targets of the genocide were the Prime Minister and 10 Belgian members of the UNAMIR forces.
Frightened by the deaths of their soldiers and aware of the international embarrassment the United States suffered in Mogadishu, Somalia after the civil war there claimed several American troops (see Black Hawk Down), the Belgian government quickly called for the withdrawal of the Belgian contingent of UNAMIR. After the withdrawal of other nations' contingents, UNAMIR was left with 270 soldiers supported by less than 200 local authorities. General Dallaire, despite orders to withdraw from Kigali, refused to abandon the country to the genocide, and remained to lead what forces remained.
Understaffed and abandoned, UNAMIR did the best it could with what forces remained. As individuals and as a group, members of the UNAMIR forces did manage to save the lives of thousands of Tutsis in and around Kigali and the few areas of UN control. General Dallaire requested the immediate insertion of approximately 5,000 troops, but his request was denied.
For the next 6 weeks, approximately, UNAMIR coordinated peace talks between the Hutu government and the RPF to little avail. Eventually, on 17 May 1994, the UN security council adopted a resolution that would deliver nearly 5,500 troops and much needed personnel carriers and other equipment to UNAMIR. Unfortunately, the member states refused to gather troops or send supplies for approximately six months, well after the formal end of the genocide.
At the beginning of July, Booh-Booh was replaced by Shaharyar Khan of Pakistan as head of UNAMIR.
After the genocide
In July 1994, the RPF swept into Kigali and ended the genocide that had lasted 100 days, and RPF leader Paul Kagame (who became president) reaffirmed his commitment to the Arusha Accords.
In August of 1994, suffering from severe stress, Dallaire was replaced as Force Commander by Major-General Guy Tousignant, also from Canada.
After the late arrival of the much needed troop support, UNAMIR continued to carry out its mandate to the best of its abilities. In 1996, however, with assertion from the new Rwandese government that UNAMIR had failed in its priority mission, the UN withdrew the UNAMIR mandate on March 8, 1996.
Despite the failure of UNAMIR in its main mission, its humanitarian services during the 1994 genocide are recognized to this day as having saved the lives of thousands or tens of thousands of Rwandan Tutsis and Hutu moderates who would have been otherwise killed.
General Dallaire received the Aegis Trust Award (the first) for his acts of bravery, yet the spectre of his mission's failure haunted him greatly. Having attempted suicide and having not responded to therapy following diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, General Dallaire was medically dismissed from service. Today, he is now a senator and a fellow at Harvard's Carr Center, where he will write about and study different forms of conflict resolution.
See also
External links
- UN page about UNAMIR (http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/unamir.htm)