United Nations Assistance Mission For Rwanda - Establishment

Establishment

UNAMIR was established on 5 October 1993 by Security Council Resolution 872 (1993). 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." Its authorised strength was 2,500 personnel, but it took some five months of piecemeal commitments for the mission to reach this level.

The head of the mission was Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh of Cameroon, and its Force Commander was Canadian Lieutenant-General (then Brigadier-General, promoted Major-General during the mission) Roméo Dallaire. Around 400 of the troops in this early part of the mission consisted of Belgian soldiers, despite the fact that Rwanda had been a Belgian colony, and normally the UN bans the former colonial power from serving in such peace-keeping roles. The biggest contributing countries along with Belgium were Ghana, Tunisia, Bangladesh, and Canada. 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."