Defence Minister Gen. Marcel Gatsinzi yesterday afternoon received and held bilateral-military discussions with visiting United Kingdom (UK) Defence officials at his offices in Kimihurura.

The Minister and other officials held talks with Teresa Jones, the Director of International Policy and Planning at UK’s Defence Ministry in a closed door meeting on recent developments in the region.

"I have been visiting Rwanda to discuss bilateral military relationships which are good between the UK and Rwanda,” Jones told reporters shortly after the meeting.

Jones is in charge of UK military relations for Sub-Saharan Africa and her country’s Defence attachés are her responsibility.

She was in the company of British envoy to Rwanda Nicholas Cannon and Lt. Col. Simon Etherington, the Kampala-based UK military attaché to Rwanda.

She pointed out that the UK has been doing "some good work” with the Rwandan military and that they had been talking with the Minister about some of the training her government has been providing, in addition to possibilities of helping with the reform of the Rwandan Defence Ministry.

"It has been a very fruitful exchange of views between the two of us and I am going to return to London with a clearer idea about the strength of the relationship between UK and Rwanda,” she said, referring to her visit as being short but very important.

Their discussions also, reportedly, touched on the on-going Rwanda-Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) joint military offensive against Ex-Far/Interahamwe militia in eastern DRC.

"It has been a useful discussion but of course we have also been discussing the recent operation in Congo and the collaboration between the armed forces of DRC and the armed forces of Rwanda,” Jones said.

Asked to comment, Jones welcomed the joint operation.
"Obviously they have had some significant successes, and I think that contributes to providing greater stability and security to the people of the region and it is welcome. I think we are very glad to see the cooperation between the DRC and Rwanda.”

"I understand that there is going to be an exchange of diplomatic personnel and I think this is an important step going forward – which demonstrates the improvement of relations between the two countries,” she noted.

Rwanda and the DRC recently agreed to restore the diplomatic relations that have been missing for over the last decade.

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