No developments observed this year.
Cease Fire – 1998
No further information specific to ceasefire violation between the signatories reported this year.1 However, other conflicts continued.
Cease Fire – 1997
The Hutu refugees in Zaire started to regroup in refugee camps immediately after the start of 1994. In March 1997, the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR) and the armed wing of the Party for the Liberation of Rwanda (PALIR) declared their desire to overthrow the regime. Rebels infiltrated from Congo and initiated attacks in Rwanda. The government responded with disproportionate force, attacking civilians and relocating tens of thousands in an expulsion campaign. The reported number deaths resulting from the conflict was as high as 767 in 1997. The ALIR consisted two parts; the ALIR I was mainly based in the South Kivu and Maniema Provinces while ALIR II fought alongside the government army in conflicts in the DRC. ALIR I and II became part of a new political-military organization, the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), in September 2000. In the conflict, the DRC helped the DFLR and the Rwandan government to provide support to the rebels in the DRC.2
Cease Fire – 1996
Limited incursions into Rwanda occurred, presumably by ex-FAR and militia based in Zaire. This led the RPF to invade Zaire in October 1996. The ensuing civil war in Zaire/Congo was directly related to the situation in Rwanda. There was a brief pause in conflict after a rebel victory in 1994; new conflict was initiated in 1996.3
Cease Fire – 1995
No further information specific to ceasefire violation between the signatories reported this year.1
Cease Fire – 1994
The UN Security Council reported that an interim civilian government was in place and parties reached a ceasefire agreement on 9 April 1994. This agreement came after the deaths of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and President Cyprian Ntaryamira of Burundi, who died in a plane crash.4 The killings continued and on the sideline of the OAU summit, the RPF and the interim government agreed to a ceasefire.5 The killings from both sides did not stop. On 18 July 1994, the Rwandan rebel commander declared victory against the Hutu-led government and announced an immediate ceasefire after 14 weeks of massacres.6 Estimations of the number killed in the genocide varies from source to source. International Crisis Group in its report suggested between 800,000 to one million genocidal killings in 1994.7 After defeat from the RPF, the interim Hutu government , FAR, interahamwe militia fled along with Hutu refugees to Zaire.
Cease Fire – 1993
The N’sele Cease-fire Agreement of 12 July 1992 did not result in a cessation of hostilities. Both sides continued to engage in fighting.8 The ceasefire agreement included a provision for a 50-member Neutral Military Observer Group – I (NMOG-I) furnished by the Organization of African Unity (OAU). The observers were drawn from Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe and deployed by the first week of August 1992.9
Into 1993 the fighting continued and both sides were very much involved in fighting, in violation of the ceasefire agreement to which they had agreed in July 1992, after occupying a large swath of territory in northern Rwanda in the preceding days. The Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) declared an immediate ceasefire on 12 February 1993, which the Rwandese government forces were also expected to respect immediately. The rebel group put forward a plan to achieve the ceasefire implementation through the assistance of the NMOG-I.10 The Government rejected the RPF offer of ceasefire and asked the rebels to withdraw before the ceasefire.11
A new ceasefire agreement was announced and came into effect on 9 March 1993 and parties agreed to hold further talks in Arusha, Tanzania on 15 March.12 In March, the UN Security Council approved the deployment of peacekeepers to monitor the ceasefire.13 Despite the promise of the new ceasefire agreement, it was quickly violated by both sides. As a part of the ceasefire monitoring, “the Security Council in June 1993 established the United Nations Observer Mission Uganda-Rwanda (UNOMUR) on the Ugandan side of the border to verify that no military assistance reached Rwanda.”14
Verification/Monitoring Mechanism – 2009
No further developments observed.
Verification/Monitoring Mechanism – 2008
No further developments observed.
Verification/Monitoring Mechanism – 2007
No further developments observed.