Deteriorating security situation continues: UNAMIR mandate extended.

Expressing concern over the deterioration of security in Rwanda, particularly in the capital city of Kigali, the Security Council on 5 April extended the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) until 29 July.

The Council specified that it did so on the understanding that, within the following six weeks, it would review the situation, including the role played by the UN in Rwanda, if informed by the UN Secretary-General that the transitional institutions provided for under the Arusha Peace Agreement, signed on 4 August 1993, had not been established, and that "insufficient progress has been made" to increase the Mission to its full strength of about 2,600, in order to monitor disengagement, demobilization and integration of the Government and the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF) forces. UNAMIR now numbers 2,539.

In unanimously adopting resolution 909 (1994), the 15-member body regretted the delay in implementing the Arusha Agreement and urged the parties to resolve their latest differences without delay, with a view to the immediate establishment of those transitional institutions.

While welcoming the fact that, up to that point, the cease-fire had been respected and commending the essential contribution made by UNAMIR, the Council recalled nevertheless that continued support for the Mission would depend on the full and prompt implementation by the parties to the Arusha Agreement.

Secretary-General's report

On 30 March, the Secretary-General reported (S/1994/360) that, despite agreement in December 1993 by the Rwandese Government and the RPF to set up a broad-based transitional Government and the Transitional National Assembly before the end of 1993, that had not taken place because of the parties' inability to agree on relevant modalities, including the lists of members of those institutions.

In accordance with the Arusha Agreement, which provided that the incumbent head of State would remain in office until the outcome of elections to be held at the end of the transitional period, Major-General Juvenal Habyarimana had been sworn in as President on 5 January.

Broad consensus among political leaders to install a transitional Government--reached in mid-February after a series of consultations organized by the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Rwanda, Jacques-Roger Booh Booh--was derailed following an outbreak of violence on 21 February, during the course of which two important leader's were murdered. Efforts to break the stalemate, with the participation of Mr. Booh Booh and the Presidents of Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania, continued during march.

Ceremonies were organized in February and March to install the transitional institutions, but did not take place because of political boycotts and other obstacles.

A rapid deterioration

Owing in part to the continuing political stalemate, the Secretary-General said there had been a rapid and dramatic deterioration in the security

situation in Kigali, including assassinations, violent demonstrations and roadblocks.

"While most incidents can be attributed to armed banditry, which has been growing as a result of the ready availability of weapons, ethnic and politically-motivated crimes, including assassinations and murders, also have increased", the Secretary-General stated. Those incidents, unless contained or stopped, could lead to an environment of heightened insecurity that could hinder the implementation of the Arusha Agreement, he concluded.

UNAMIR had stressed to all parties that no ammunition should be brought into Rwanda before the transitional Government was installed. There were increasing reports, however, of distribution of weapons to civilians. The Government forces, he said, continued to mine major roads.

Humanitarian concerns

The humanitarian situation in Rwanda had become "even more worrying as new challenges have compounded existing difficulties and deepened the crisis", the Secretary-General reported. Food supplies were critical, and deteriorating public services in health, sanitation and social relief and rehabilitation put many at risk.

The World Food Programme (WFP) on 16 February called for a greater international response to its january appeal for $45 million in food and cash donations for thousands of refugees and displaced people in Burundi, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zaire who were in extreme need. Only 2 5 per cent of total requirements had been funded, seriously hampering the procurement of urgently-needed food according to the WFP.

Background to the conflict

Fighting between the Armed Forces of the Government of Rwanda and the RFP first broke out in October 1990. Despite a number of cease-fire agreements thereafter, hostilities resumed in early February 1993, interrupting negotiations supported by the Organization of African Unity and facilitated by the United Republic of Tanzania.

In separate letters in February 1993, the Governments of Rwanda and Uganda had asked for deployment of UN observers at their common border. After considering the results of a goodwill mission and a technical team visit to the area, the Council on 22 June, by resolution 846 (1993), established the UN Observers Mission Uganda-Rwanda (UNOMUR) to be deployed on the Ugandan side of the border.

A few weeks later, on 4 August, the Arusha Peace Agreement was signed by the Rwandese Government and the RPF, calling for the establishment of a broad-based transitional government, including a Transitional National Assembly, leading up to democratic elections. The two parties agreed that the war between them had ended and they would spare no effort to promote national unity and reconciliation. Six protocols of agreement, which they had concluded and signed, were attached to the Peace Agreement.

After reviewing the report of a reconnaissance mission--requested by the two parties to examine the functions of a neutral international force called for in the Arusha Peace Agreement--the Council on 5 October, by resolution 872 (1993), established UNAMIR, with a mandate to monitor the security situation in Rwanda and a cease-fire, investigate alleged instances of non-compliance with the Arusha Agreement, monitor repatriation of Rwandese refugees, assist in mine clearance, help coordinate humanitarian aid and investigate incidents regarding the Gendarmerie and police.

The Council, also in resolution 872, approved the proposal that UNOMUR--with 81 military observers and 11 civilian staff--be integrated within UNAMIR. In a November 1993 report (A/48/636), however, the Secretary-General stated that the integration "will be purely administrative in nature and will not affect the mandate of UNOMUR", which was to monitor the border to verify that no military assistance reached Rwanda.

On 31 March, the General Assembly decided that the special accounts for UNAMIR and UNOMUR would be integrated "for purely administrative purposes".

On 6 January, the Security Council, in resolution 893 (1994), approved the early deployment of a second infantry battalion to the demilitarized zone, strongly urging the parties to cooperate with UNAMIR in furthering the peace process.

The Council, in a 17 February statement made by its President, called for the speedy installation of the transitional institutions provided for under the Arusha Agreement and reaffirmed that continued support for UNAMIR would depend on full and prompt implementation of the Agreement by the parties.

Fact-finding mission dispatched to Burundi

A special fact-finding mission has been dispatched to Burundi to investigate the coup d'etat and massacres of october 1993.

The mission, sent at the request of Burundi and led by former Foreign Minister Simeon Ake of Cote d'Ivoire, is also to examine other activities that the UN might undertake in exercise of the Secretary-General's good offices.

The mission left New York on 19 March and was expected to spend up to three weeks in Burundi. it was scheduled to visit Addis Ababa for consultation with the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 9 March in Geneva, Mrs. Shanti Sadiq Ali, expert from India and a Country Rapporteur, said that the assassination of President Melchior Ndadaye of Burundi on 21 October 1993 had been followed by inter-ethnic conflict and "policies without precedent" which had plunged Burundi into horror. Thousands of citizens had died and 100,000 others had been forced into exile or displaced, she said.

Mrs. Sadiq Ali added that, in her view, it was of crucial importance to reform the army, stop arms trafficking and institute a legal system to protect the individual.

Perpetue Nshimirimana of Burundi said her Government wanted the causes of the crisis to be clarified to put the country back on the path to peace. It was high time that the ethnic differences were tackled and overcome. A Commission of inquiry had been set up and would make a public statement on the question, she said.

Committee experts asked Burundi whether the impunity of the army was considered to be the primary cause of the problems. Who was governing Burundi? Who held political power? Who was responsible for the massacres? What measures were being taken to prevent massacres and human rights violations?

Ms. Nshimirimana replied that the Committee might become involved in the human rights education of the army and the judiciary in Burundi. She added that the involvement of the international community in staving off the threat of famine would be welcomed.

In early March, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) launched an emergency airlift into Burundi to deliver relief supplies.

Initial flights were to ferry 20,000 sheets of tarpaulin, 30,000 blankets, 80,000 one-litre jerrycans, 40,000 kitchen sets, a land cruiser and seven pick-up trucks and four generators.

Of more than 700,000 refugees who fled the country after the failed coup sparked widespread ethnic clashes, some 200,000 are in Rwanda, 41,000 in Zaire and 60,000 in the United Republic of Tanzania.

The UNHCR described the Burundi refugee drama as "the largest and fastest" since the Gulf crisis. The magnitude and suddenness of the emergency had overwhelmed relief efforts, resulting in high mortality rates in camps in the asylum countries. increased food rations and decongestion of the camps had eased the situation considerably.

The UN Children's Fund also warned that as many as 10,000 children might die of starvation as a result of renewed ethnic violence in Burundi.

Presidents killed at Kigali

President of Rwanda Juvenal Habyarimana and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi were killed on 6 April when a plane in which they were travelling crashed at Kigali Airport under suspicious circumstances. This set off a chain of murders and killings of Tutsis and Hutu rivals of the presidential guard, and prompted a new offensive by the forces of the Tutsi-dominated Rwandese Patriotic Front.