Arusha Peace Accords
After the Rwandan Civil War, the government attempted to "fix" the situation in the country but failed miserably. This unsuccessful attempt at compromise, known as the Arusha Peace Accords, was a United Nations sponsored agreement between the two sides of the Rwandan Civil War. Because the international community refused to abide by the provisions of the agreement, such as a ceasefire, the Accords failed to resolve ongoing racial and ethnic conflict in Rwanda. Negotiations between the two sides began in June 1992, and appeared to be making progress by late 1993. However, when tragedy struck in the spring of 1994, all attempts at compromise abruptly ended.
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The Plane Crash
On April 6, 1994, the president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana, accompanied by Burundi president, Cyprien Nyamira, were flying back from negotiations in Tanzania when their plane was shot down and both were killed. The Hutus blamed the Tutsis for the death of their president and, as a result, began killing the Tutsis. This mass murder, genocide, lasted four months, displaced nearly one and a half million refugees, and resulted in a death count over one million. The Hutus used hate propaganda to degrade the Tutsis, as well as for recruiting participants to carry out the genocide.
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