East African Community Military sports and culture tournament was officially launched August 16 at Rwagasore Stadium in Bujumbura.
The event officially opened by Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza was attended by a delegation of 500 players from the five community member states Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.
In attendance also were Dr. Richard Sezibera, the East African Community Secretary General along with the Army chiefs of staff from each of the participating countries and cabinet ministers from Burundi.
The tournament is taking place in celebration of 10 years of the EAC Defence sector cooperation under the theme “One People, One Destiny: Yet another Decade for Deeper EAC Defence Cooperation”.
According to ministry of defence website, Rwanda is represented by a delegation of 106 male and female players under the leadership of Lt. Gen. Charles Kayonga.
The games to be played will involve five disciplines; basketball (men), netball (women), handball (men and women), football (men) and cross country marathon (men and women) of which Rwanda will take part in all.
“The military are not only trained to handle the trigger but to participate actively in sports and culture, to contribute to the construction of their country, and rehabilitation of the society and the environment,” President Nkurunziza noted in his commencement speech.
“With the rising threat of international terrorism and creeping instability in a multiplicity of hotspots around the world, the issues of defence and security have assumed a greater importance and significance in the agenda of nations and indeed the agenda of groupings of nations such as ours,” Amb. Sezibera said in his opening discourse.
The East African Military games are an annual event that have been taking place since 2005 and most recently took place in Rwanda in 2009.
The games kicked off with a football match between Tanzania and Burundi in which Burundi beat their Tanzanian counterparts 4 goals to nil. The games are scheduled to end on August 27.
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