Kigali, 6 October 2023

Defence Attachés (DA) accredited to Rwanda today were hosted for a security briefing at Rwanda Defence Force Headquarters, Kimihurura. They were briefed on Rwanda’s internal and external security situation, RDF’s bilateral and multilateral peace support engagements in various theatres, as well as Rwanda’s perspective on regional dynamics.

While welcoming the DAs on behalf of the Chief of Defence Staff, the Head of International Military Cooperation, Brig Gen Patrick Karuretwa said that the security brief was an important way to pursue mutual understanding and defence cooperation between our countries. He thanked the DAs for the high level participation which is testimony to the value attached to the defence partnerships with Rwanda. The briefings were followed by an extensive interactive session during which the DA’s were able to ask questions, seek clarifications, and share their own perspectives.

After the brief at RDF Headquarters, the DAs visited the RDF Engineer Command where they were briefed on Engineer Command structure, roles and capabilities; and also toured the Engineer Command’s facilities.

The President of the Defence Attachés Association, Col Didier Calmant expressed gratitude for the opportunity given to them to attend the briefings and emphasised that it was very helpful for them to better understand RDF’s engagements and perspectives. He also said they were impressed by the visit to Engineer Command and commended the cooperation between Civil Engineers and RDF engineers.

The briefing was organised by the RDF-International Military Cooperation Department and involved 31 participants including Defence Attachés and Associates representing 25 countries namely Algeria, Angola, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Ghana, Germany, Japan, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, The Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Korea, Russia, Sweden, Türkiye, Uganda, United Kingdom, USA, Zambia, Zimbabwe. There were also representatives from EU and ICRC.

RDF regularly organizes Defence Attachés Security Briefings to provide the opportunity to resident and non-resident DAs to meet and exchange views on current security dynamics at national, regional and international level with a view to enhancing cooperation between RDF and partner Defence forces.