Arusha Accords The Arusha Accords ( also Arusha Peace Agreement , or 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 Rwandan 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 , as well as the marginalized pygmoid Twa . The Arusha Accords established a Broad - Based Transitional Government ( BBTG ) , including the insurgent Rwandese Patriotic Front ( primarily Tutsi ) and the five political parties that had composed a temporary government since April 1992 in anticipation of general elections . The Accords included other 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 rebel armies . 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 . 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 MRND . 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 .