| UN Security Council Resolution 812 | |
|---|---|
Rwanda | |
| Date | 12 March 1993 |
| Meeting no. | 3,183 |
| Code | S/RES/812 (Document) |
| Subject | Rwanda |
Voting summary | 15 voted for None voted against None abstained |
| Result | Adopted |
| Security Council composition | |
Permanent members | |
Non-permanent members | |
United Nations Security Council resolution 812, adopted unanimously on 12 March 1993, after expressing its alarm at the humanitarian situation in Rwanda due to the ongoing civil war, in particular the number of refugees and displaced persons which posed an international threat to peace and security, the Council called upon the Government of Rwanda, the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development, and the Rwandan Patriotic Front to respect a ceasefire that took place on 9 March 1993 and implement other agreements they had committed themselves to. It was the first resolution on the situation in Rwanda. [1]
Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a country in Central and East Africa and one of the smallest countries on the African mainland. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Rwanda is in the African Great Lakes region and is highly elevated; its geography is dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the east, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year.
The Rwandan Civil War was a conflict between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the government of Rwanda, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The war, which lasted from 1990 to 1994, arose from the long-running dispute between the Hutu and Tutsi groups within the Rwandan population. A 1959–1962 revolution had replaced the Tutsi monarchy with a Hutu-led republic, forcing more than 336,000 Tutsi to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. A group of these refugees in Uganda founded the RPF which, under the leadership of Fred Rwigyema and Paul Kagame, became a battle-ready army by the late 1980s.
Rwanda gained its independence on July 1, 1962. Politics of Rwanda reflects Belgian and German civil law systems and customary law takes place in a framework of a presidential republic, whereby the President of Rwanda is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government.
Contents
The resolution invited the Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to examine possible contributions by the United Nations to strengthen the Organisation of African Unity's (OAU) efforts in Rwanda, including the possible establishment of an international force. [2] It also asked Boutros-Ghali to examine requests by Rwanda and Uganda to deploy observers along their border.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) from January 1992 to December 1996. An academic and former Vice Foreign Minister of Egypt, Boutros-Ghali oversaw the UN at a time when it dealt with several world crises, including the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Rwandan genocide. He was then the first Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie from 16 November 1997 to 31 December 2002.
The Organisation of African Unity was established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with 32 signatory governments. It was disbanded on 9 July 2002 by its last chairperson, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and replaced by the African Union (AU). Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and economic integration among member states, and to eradicate colonialism and neo-colonialism from the African continent. Although it achieved some success, there were also differences of opinion as to how that was going to be achieved.
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate.
Resolution 812 concluded by asking both Rwandan parties to co-operate with the United Nations and OAU, and to resume their negotiations on 15 March 1993 as agreed, urging both to respect international humanitarian law.
International humanitarian law (IHL) is the law that regulates the conduct of war. It is that branch of international law which seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by protecting persons who are not participating in hostilities, and by restricting and regulating the means and methods of warfare available to combatants.
