{The director of the Police division in the United Nations, Stefan Feller, on March 18, visited the Rwanda National Police General Headquarters in Kacyiru where he commended the force’s contribution to international peace building. }
Stefan, who was accompanied by Renata Dwan from the UN headquarters, was received by the Inspector General of Police, Emmanuel K. Gasana.
“I am more than happy for the work done by Rwanda Police officers in various UN missions to restore peace, safety and security,” Stefan said.
He was briefed on the RNP ten-year journey in peacekeeping operation since 2005 when the force deployed the maiden 49 officers under the then African Union mission in Sudan, and its current capabilities.
Close to 2, 500 Police officers have served in various UN missions in the last one decade, with at least 35 percent of them females.
The idea behind sending females to participate in peacekeeping activities is partly to implement local and international agreements including the UN resolution 1325/2000 which requires member countries to involve females in peace building during in conflicts prone nations.
“Rwanda as an active member of UN values peace support operations as crucial to ensure world peace, and we are able and willing to this great course,” IGP Gasana noted.
“With what happened in Rwanda in 1994, we feel no one else should feel or fall in the same situation,” he added.
Rwanda which is the fifth contributor of the biggest number of peacekeepers, maintains over 600 police officers including those serving under Formed Police Unit (FPU), Individual Police Officers (IPOs) and those holding professional posts.
RNP officers are currently deployed in eight different missions which are CAR, Darfur, South Sudan, Abyei, Mali, Liberia, Haiti and Ivory Coast.
The Police Commissioner in Ivory Coast, CP Vianney Nshimiyimana is also Rwandan.
Rwandan peacekeepers maintains the uniqueness owing to the fact that they can operate in both Anglophone and francophone societies, and have introduced home-grown initiatives in their areas of operations like Umuganda and supporting community socio-economic activities as part of the post conflict peace building and reconstruction experience.
Prior to the meeting, Stefan visited Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Gisozi where he laid a wreath in remembrance of the over one million victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
He also visited the Peacekeeping Pre-deployment Training Centre located at the Police Training School in Gishari, Rwamagana district where he was briefed on various disciplines given to officers prior to deployment to UN missions. In a guided tour he was walk through the training centre and shown the training facilities and the model FPU base camp which is used to effectively prepare police officers before deployment to any UN mission.
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