US War college students commend RDF

Students from the National War College (NWC), USA, yesterday, applauded Rwanda’s Defence Force’s effectiveness using minimal resources. During an interview, one of the students, Col Michael Lawrence, said that despite learning about the USA foreign policy formulation, Rwanda had given them the practical application. “The RDF is efficient yet it uses few resources. Many countries will be faced with budgetary constraints if they don’t follow Rwanda’s example, which is doing well in handling its resources,” Lawrence said. He also noted that Rwanda’s efficiency is something the US and other nations could learn from. Col. Lawrence made the remarks when he led a 10-member delegation from one of America’s top military colleges to meet Defense Minister Gen James Kabarebe at the Rwanda Defence Forces headquarters in Kimihurura. The students are here for a week-long study tour focusing on the military, the country’s social-economic development and culture. At the Defence Ministry, they received briefings on the RDF’s role in various aspects of the country’s reconstruction process, including the army week. “The RDF engagements such as defending territorial sovereignty, peace support organisations, internal security and the challenges RDF faces are some of the issues we tackled in this meeting. The students have also learnt that RDF doesn’t use conventional means,” said Lt Col Jill Rutaremara, the military and RDF spokesperson. Rutaremara noted that this visit was a big honour adding that it would strengthen Rwanda’s partnership with the US. Issues discussed ranged from conflict management, demobilisation and general development. Stephen Jackson, another of the visiting students lauded RDF for playing a key role in activities including agriculture, housing and health. Ends