Opération Turquoise

Opération Turquoise was a French-led military operation in Rwanda in 1994 under the mandate of the United Nations.

On 6 April 1994 Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira were assassinated, sparking the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. The United Nations already had a peacekeeping force, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), in Kigali that had been tasked with observing that the Arusha Accords were being carried out. Following the start of the genocide and the deaths of several kidnapped Belgian soldiers, Belgium withdrew its contribution to UNAMIR, which was commanded by Canadian Roméo Dallaire; Dallaire was prohibited from involving the force in the protection of civilians. By late April, several of the nonpermanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) were trying to convince the major powers to agree to a UNAMIR II. As opposed to UNAMIR, which had a peacekeeping mandate under Chapter VI of the U.N. Charter, UNAMIR II would be authorised under Chapter VII to enforce peace.

The French had provided the Hutu-dominated Habyarimana government with extensive military, and diplomatic support, including a military intervention to save the government during an offensive by the rebel Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in 1990. Immediately after the genocide began, the RPF began another offensive to overthrow the genocidal government and steadily gained ground. By late June, the RPF controlled much of the country and was nearing a complete victory. RPF units carried out retributive attacks within areas they controlled, but they were not of the scale and organization as those carried out in the genocide.

...
Wikipedia