The Arusha Accords (also known as the Arusha Peace Agreement, or the Arusha negotiations) were a set of five accords (or protocols) signed by the Rwandese Patriotic Front and the Government of Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania on 4 August 1993, ending the civil war.

The talks were initially orchestrated by both the United States and France beginning on July 12 1992 under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity, and lasted until June 24 1993, with a final meeting in Rwanda July 19 to July 25, 1993. The protocols touched several points necessary for a lasting peace; from the rule of law, repatriation of refugees, reinstallation of people displaced by the war through power sharing and the fusion of both armies.

The accords stripped considerable power from the once all powerful president, then Juvénal Habyarimana. Most of the power was vested into the Transitional Broad Based Government (TBBG) that would include the RPF as well as the five political parties that formed the coalition government in place since April 1992, to govern until proper elections could be held.

Of the 21 cabinet posts proposed in the new government, the former ruling party the Mouvement Républicain Nationale pour la Démocratie et le Développement (MRND), was given five posts including the defence portfolio. The RPF got the same number including that of the interior, The major opposition party, the Mouvement Démocratique Républicain (MDR) was given four posts including that of prime minister to be held by Faustin Twagiramungu.

The Parti social démocrate (PSD) and the Parti libéral (PL) each got three portfolios while the Parti démocrate chrétien (PDC) was given one.

As for the Transitional National Assembly (TNA), it was open to the RPF as well as other parties on condition they signed a political “code of conduct”. The Hutu-extremist Committee for the Defense of the Republic (CDR), also controlled by the previous President Habyarimana, was violently opposed to sharing power with the RPF, and at first refused to sign it. When it at last decided to agree to the terms, it was opposed by the RPF. The situation remained unchanged until the genocide.

There were 18 political parties registered in Rwanda in 1994.

The TBBG and the TNA was supposed to be in place within 37 days after the signing of the accords and the transitional period was not supposed to go beyond 22 months after which general elections would be held.

The accords also called for the putting into place a new armed force with the government supplying 60% of the men while RPF would take the remaining 40%. The negotiations on combining the army posed the biggest test of all subjects discussed and it caused the biggest headache.

The protocol was signed on October 3, 1993 a day before the signing of the accords by the President of the Republic, Juvénal Habyarimana and the president of the RPF, Alexis Kanyarengwe.

Further attempts to make progress were defeated by several assassinations culminating in the assassination of Habyarimana and Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira when their plane was shot down approaching the Kigali airport. With the death of Habyarimana the Rwandan genocide began, leaving more than 800,000 Tutsis and sympathizers dead.