Military Reform: Arusha Accord – 4 August 1993
Implementations
Military Reform – 1993
No military reforms took place in 1993.
Military Reform – 1994
Rwanda’s armed forces were an estimated 30,000 strong when genocidal violence erupted in 1994. The military strength increased to 70,000 in 2002 and dropped to 33,000 as of 2007.1
The Arusha accord of 1993 contained several provisions for military reform including the composition of the armed forces. According to the accord, government forces were to comprise 60% of the new force and the RPF were to comprise 40%. The proposed armed force was said to be 13,000 strong. After the genocide of 1994, most of the members of Armed Force of Rwanda fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The victorious rebel group Rwandan Patriotic Front’s armed wing Rwandan Patriotic Army became the Rwandan Defense Forces on July 19, 1994. This was formally institutionalized in the law N° 19/2002 of 17/05/2002.2
- D. Scott Bennett and Allan Stam, “EUGene: A Conceptual Manual,” International Interactions 26 (2000):179-204.
- “Ministrial Order,” Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission (RDRC), accessed September 19, 2011, http://www.rdrc.org.rw/ProgrommeDocs/ministerial_order.pdf.
Military Reform – 1995
No developments observed this year.
Military Reform – 1996
No developments observed this year.
Military Reform – 1997
Although the military reform started in Rwanda with the signing of Arusha Accord in 1993, the actual reform was not in line with the Arusha Accord. Reform was, for the most part, domestically driven as tensions arose between the Government of National Unity and international actors i.e. France, U.N. Peacekeeping, who had previously failed to respond to the genocide. The Rwandan government started to reduce the size of the military in response to pressure from international donor agencies in 1997.1 This phase began in September 1997 and continued until February 2001 and involved the demobilization of 18,692 soldiers from the Rwandan army (RPA), 2,364 of whom were child soldiers. In this phase, some 15,000 ex-FAR combatants were integrated into the RPA and approximately 15,000 settled in Rwanda. Even if the overall objective of the RDRP Stage I was to reduce the size of the armed force to an economically sustainable level, the integration of the ex-FRA made the change economically insignificant.2
- “Rwanda Starts Demobilization,” Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota), September 30, 1997.
- “The Second Stage of Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Programme (RDRP Stage II),” RDRC, 2002.
Military Reform – 1998
No developments observed this year.
Military Reform – 1999
No developments observed this year.
Military Reform – 2000
No developments observed this year.
Military Reform – 2001
No developments observed this year.
Military Reform – 2002
In an effort to reform the military, the government enacted a law (no. 19/2002) on 17 May 2002 that called for the demobilization of members of Rwandan Defense Force, Former Armed Force of Rwanda, and other formerly armed groups. When the law was enacted in 2002, the RDA controlled 51,000 armed personnel. Through the RDRP Stage II, 22,000 Rwandan Defense Force members were expected to be demobilized resulting in a smaller and more professionalized armed force. As of June 2008, 22,362 RDF soldiers were demobilized exceeding their target.1 This reform initiative was supported by World Bank, DFID, GTZ and Multi Donor Trust Fund, African Union and the government of Rwanda.2
The Rwandan armed force is now an integrated and reformed armed force. Yet, it did not meet the 13,000 personnel goal as agreed to in the Arusha Accord of 1993.
- “Rwanda Demobilization and Reintegration Commission,” DDR-Rwanda, January-March 2008, 4, accessed September 19, 2011, www.rdrc.org.rw.
- “RDRC, 2001-2008,” accessed September 19, 2011, http://escolapau.uab.cat/img/programas/desarme/mapa/rwanda09i.pdf.