Operations in the Great Lakes region, Central Africa (1993-1994)
- Duration
- 17 August 1993 - 12 November 1994
- Military personnel
- 167
- Fatalities
- none
- Decorations
- none
Conflicts between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda reached a new nadir at the beginning of the 1990s. At the request of the belligerents, the UN intervened in the conflict between the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Tutsi-dominated rebel movement, and the Hutu government army.
On 5 October 1993, following the United Nations Observer Mission in Uganda-Rwanda (UNOMUR), the UN Security Council resolved to establish the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR).
The task of UNAMIR’s 2.500 blue helmets and 330 military observers was to assist in the implementation of the difficult peace process by:
- ensuring security in the Rwandan capital Kigali;
- enforcing a ceasefire;
- assisting in the return of refugees;
- assisting in the establishment of mine clearance programmes;
- assisting in the preparation of free elections.
Despite this UN intervention, the civil war resulted in genocide in 1994. An estimated 800.000 people were killed within a few weeks.