Rwanda FPU III-5 replaced Rwanda FPU III-IV, which is stationed in the capital Juba.
In the morning at about 11 a.m, 160 women and men of Rwanda FPU III-5, majority females, commanded by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Specioza Dusabe, left Kigali International Airport (KIA) for the one year peacekeeping mission in South Sudan.
The replaced contingent returned home later at about 3:30p.m after a successful one year tour-of-duty, under the command of SSP Mathias Muhire.
Commissioner of Police (CP) Costa Habyara, Commissioner for Counterterrorism in RNP presided over the departure and arrival of the contingents at the KIA.
The statement released by the government today reads that the incident occurred in the morning of Monday 7th November 2022.
“A Sukhoi-25 fighter jet from the Democratic Republic of Congo violated Rwandan airspace at 11h20 this morning and briefly touched down at Rubavu Airport in Western Province,” reads the statement in part.
“No military action was taken by Rwanda in response, and the jet returned to DRC. Rwandan authorities have protested this provocation to the DRC who acknowledged the incident,” adds the statement.
Commenting on the incident, the Spokesperson of the Government of Rwanda, Yolande Makolo has via Twitter account indicated that ‘the incursion by the DRC Sukhoi-25 fighter jet is one of many provocations following cross-border shelling of Rwandan territory with rockets earlier this year’.
The provocation has happened following media reports on Sunday that Goma Airport was closed the whole day on Sunday awaiting the arrival of fighter jets.
It comes amidst escalating tensions between Rwanda and DRC over reciprocal accusations related to the fight between Congolese Army (FARDC) and M23 rebel group.
FARDC continues to loose bases to M23 rebel group and attributes its strength to alleged support from Rwanda.
Rwanda has however denied the allegations repeatedly calling the fight with M23 an internal problem which should be addressed by DRC.
DRC President, Félix Tshisekedi recently revealed figuratively that it is time to wage a war on Rwanda after elucidating that diplomatic process is no longer a promising option to restore peace in the eastern part of his country.
Tshisekedi made the revelation in the evening of Thursday 3rd November 2022 as he delivered state of the nation address.
He said that the M23 rebel group is receiving support from Rwanda in terms of resources and reinforcement troops.
Alluding to waging a war on Rwanda, Tshisekedi said that his country had two options to address security problems in eastern DRC: diplomacy and war.
“I have resolved to prefer the first option over the second. So, the diplomatic option has been implemented,” he said.
Tshisekedi also ordered the Congolese army commander to establish dozens of military training centers as part of preparations to respond to alleged Rwanda’s support to M23.
“In response to the appeal of young people to enroll massively in our Armed Forces, I reiterate the instruction given to the Chief of Staff to accelerate the establishment of training centers through the twenty six provinces in our country,” he said.
“The war imposed on us by our neighbours demands sacrifice from each of us. It is time to silence our political differences to defend our motherland together,” added Tshisekedi.
The Senior Defence and Security Advisor in the Office of the President, Gen James Kabarebe has said that Rwanda can’t be drawn into war by provocations of Congolese citizens and politicians speaking ill of the country and staging protests because it would look like a fight with a mad person.
He was responding to a question raised by one of participants of talks that brought together youth volunteers and students from the College of Science and Technology at the University of Rwanda (UR-CST) in the evening of 2nd November 2022.
Gen Kabarebe further revealed that Rwanda fights strategic wars to protect its interests where it can’t be involved in provocations and reprisals over nonsense.
As he officiated the commissioning of 568 new officers of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) on Friday 4th November 2022, President Paul Kagame said that their primary job is to maintain security not to provoke wars.
“The Rwandan army and other security organs in our country are meant to protect Rwandans, to protect the country and all its citizens, and safeguard the development we have attained, as we move forward. That is what they stand for. That is where we start. We do not start by thinking that the national army as a profession, is just about fighting wars. That comes last,” he said.
“Their primary duty is security, securing our development gains. When the latter is threatened by war, that is when fighting comes in, that is why I said that is the last resort. What we and our country stand for and the mindset of our army professionals, is that the starting point is to protect what we have achieved. This is different from building an army that just fights wars that would be wrong,” added Kagame.
The provocation follows the meeting between Congolese and Rwandan ministers of foreign affairs in held in Angola on 5th November 2022 to de-escalate tensions through dialogue.
The inaugural direct flight to the new destination was operated on Sunday 6th November 2022.
The national career has via Twitter handle revealed that the first direct flight to London took off at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday.
RwandAir’s aircrafts will be landing at Heathrow Airport located in the West of London.
The airline has been operating flights to London via Brussels for the past five years.
RwandAir will be operating four weekly flights to London.
As per recent statement released by RwandAir, flights will depart Kigali each Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday night, to arrive in London the following morning.
The return flight departs the British capital each Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, arriving at RwandAir’s home hub the following morning.
Customers will experience RwandAir’s state-of-the-art Airbus A330, which offers a choice of flying in Business Class or Economy Class. It has the capacity to carry 250 passengers.
The airline has flown between London and Kigali since May 2017 via an indirect service through Brussels, having launched flights from London Gatwick on 26th May 2017.
In 2020, after three successful years of operations, the African carrier airline decided to switch flights to the UK’s busiest airport London Heathrow, helping to improve connections for those traveling from further afield.
From its hub at the heart of Africa at Kigali International Airport, RwandAir is renowned for its excellent on-time performance, customer service, and safety. The airline has for two successive years been awarded ‘The best airline staff in Africa’.
RwandAir currently serves 28 destinations across East, Central, West, and Southern Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.
“My sincere condolences to the people of Tanzania and to President Suluhu Samia Samia Suluhu Hassan for the loss of lives following the plane accident. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of all the victims,” he tweeted.
The ATR-48 aircraft belonging to Precision Air plunged into Lake Victoria as it approached Bukoba Airport from the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam.
The plane was carrying 39 passengers.
It is reported that the accident is related to bad weather but investigations are ongoing to establish the cause.
Tanzanian Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa has arrived in Bukoba District to join citizens for the funeral of the accident’s victims at Kaitaba Stadium.
He will be representing President Suluhu who is on a working visit to China.
Bukoba Airport is located on the shores of Lake Victoria.
The development is part of resolutions of a meeting between Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Vincent Biruta and his counterpart of DRC, Christophe Lutundula held on Saturday 5th November 2022 in Luanda, the capital of Angola.
They also met with Angolan President, João Lourenço who is the mediator on tensions between Rwanda and DRC.
DRC has been accusing Rwanda of supporting M23 rebel group which captured different areas in eastern part of the country, but Rwanda repeatedly denied the allegations.
On the other hand, Rwanda also accuses DRC of working with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) to destabilize its security.
FDLR is a terrorist group formed by individuals responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
A statement announcing resolutions of the meeting held on Saturday shows that both parties met with a view to restore trust between Rwanda and DRC.
The meeting was preceded by another one between military intelligence chiefs from both countries aimed at resuming the implementation of Luanda Roadmap laid out on 6th July 2022.
As per resolutions of the meeting, both ministers of foreign affairs agreed on the necessity to maintain political dialogue between leaders of DRC and Rwanda as way to end tensions between the two brother countries.
Among others, the meeting resolved on the deployment of troops under the Expanded Joint Verification Mechanism (EJVM) to assess the situation in Goma.
The EJVM is a mechanism of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) composed of military officers from the 12 member countries that is charged with monitoring and verification of border violations between DRC and neighbouring countries.
It has been also resolved that heads of military intelligence will maintain discussions as meetings to mediate both countries through Nairobi and Luanda processes go on.
The meeting takes place a t a time when President Tshisekedi disclosed that he had two options to solve problems with Rwanda: diplomacy and war.
He explained that the first option did not yield good results and requested for mass recruitment of the youth into the military to deal with the enemy.
During his speech at the opening ceremony, Egyptian Foreign Minister and COP27 President Sameh Shoukry stressed the need to confront the negative effects of climate change during the two-week conference, where more than 120 world leaders will seek possible solutions to climate change challenges.
“Climate change threatens human life, and the development pattern in the industrial field which is no longer sustainable must be changed because this will lead to dire consequences,” Shoukry warned.
“We have witnessed during this year painful events in Pakistan, the African continent and various parts of Europe and America. All these events and the destruction and impact represent a lesson to be learned and alarm all over the planet … to more precaution, and to act quickly to take all necessary measures as per our commitments and pledges,” he said.
The COP27 president also underscored the importance of the participation of non-state actors, including the private sector, banks, international finance institutions, civil society, youth associations and indigenous associations, for the sake of an efficient implementation of pledges and commitments.
“Climate change-related efforts over the past decades were remarkably polarized, which has slowed down progress of the negotiations,” Shoukry said, adding the pledge to mobilize 100 billion U.S. dollars per year has not yet been honored.
Meanwhile, Alok Sharma, president of COP26 hosted in Glasgow, Scotland, urged unity to keep the 1.5-degree-Celsius goal within reach, highlighting the important role finance will play in this conference.
“We know that we have reached a point where finance makes or breaks the progress of the program ahead of us,” he noted.
“This summit must be about concrete actions and I hope when the world leaders join us today, they will explain what their countries achieved during the last year and how they will go further,” the British politician said.
CMA has released a statement indicating that recent assessment detected some unlicensed entities purporting to offer its services and urged the general public to be cautious.
“In line with its investor protection mandate, the Authority hereby cautions the general public about unlicensed entities of individuals who are carrying on or purporting to carry on offering, promotion or selling of capital market services or products including online forex trading,” reads the statement in part.
“These businesses claim to be duly licensed in Rwanda and often promote investment opportunities through social media. CMA informs investors that it has not yet licensed any entity to provide online forex trading brokerage services in Rwanda and any dealings in this type of investment remain at the investor’s own risk,” adds the statement.
CMA is the only regulatory public institution established by Law, with the responsibility, among others, to protect investors in the capital market by promoting and ensuring an orderly, fair, transparent and efficient capital market in Rwanda.
Among the tools used to achieve its mandate, the CMA authorizes, through licensing businesses intending to offer, promote or sell capital market services or products to investors.
CMA has urged investors to always ascertain whether the engaging firms are licensed to operate capital market businesses in Rwanda before accepting to deal in their proposed investment products or services.
The Authority has further reminded individuals or entities conducting capital market business without license that they will be punished as per provisions of the Law regulating capital market in Rwanda.
The Police Chief made the call on Sunday, November 6, while briefing 160 officers of Formed Police Unit Three (RWAFPU-III) at the Police Training School (PTS) Gishari, in Rwamagana District.
The female-dominated RWAFPU III-5 commanded by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Speciose Dusabe, will this Monday replace RWAFPU III-IV headed by SSP Marie Grace Uwimana, which was deployed in November last year for a one year peacekeeping mission.
IGP Munyuza told the officers to sustain the professional image of Rwandan peacekeepers and to stand firm amidst mission challenges.
“You were trained for this mission and you proved that you are ready for the challenge. Serve with passion, love what you do and do it professionally. You are going as ambassadors, so do not taint that image,” IGP Munyuza said.
Their successful tour-of-duty, he reiterated, will be defined by their discipline, resilience, respect, politeness, teamwork, and upholding Rwandan values.
Rwanda maintains two Formed Police Unit contingents in South Sudan. The RWAFPU-III operates in the capital Juba while RWAFPU-1 contingent of 240 officers is deployed in Malakal, Upper Nile State.
The call followed separate operations in which illegal miners were arrested.
In the latest operation conducted on Friday, November 4, Police, local leaders and other security organs arrested four people in Rutongo cassiterite mining concession located in Buliza Village of Mugambazi Cell in Murambi Sector.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Alex Ndayisenga, the Northern Region Political and Civic Education Officer RPCEO identified those arrested as Alice Tuyishimire, 28, Jean Pierre Macari, 36, Jean Paul Nshimiyimana, 39 and Niyindora Protogène, 41.
They were handed over to RIB at Murambi station.
SP Ndayisenga said that the unlawful mining was reported by the management of the cassiterite concession, where the quartet was arrested.
“They were arrested at about 4a.m after the management of Rutongo Mines Limited reported a group of men that had sneaked into the concession that night. Security organs arrested all the four men at the concession,” said SP Ndayisenga.
He warned against such illegal practices that can also lead to loss of lives.
“People enter into concessions at night and sometimes they do not know the status of the site, which is dangerous.”
Article 54 of the law N° 58/2018 of 13/08/2018 on mining and quarry operations, states that; any person, who undertakes mineral or quarry exploration, exploitation, processing or trading without a licence, commits an offence.
Upon conviction, the offender is liable to imprisonment for a term of between two and six months and a fine of not less than Rwf1 million and not more than Rwf5 million or only one of these penalties.
The court also orders confiscation of any seized minerals or quarry in storage, trading or processing without a license
Linda Ogallo, a climate adaptation expert at the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC), said drought and floods are some of the climate events that have accelerated conflicts in the Horn of Africa.
“A big block of communities in the Horn of Africa are farmers who rely on agriculture and pastoralism. Therefore, their lives are tied to climate. Any negative event leads to disruption of livelihoods and displacement that push people to new areas leading to inter-community or cross-border conflicts,” said Ogallo during a virtual forum on climate change, peace and security.
She identified South Sudan, Kenya and Somalia as the countries where climate events are causing conflict.
She said South Sudan has endured the worst flooding in the past months while drought is ravaging Somalia and Kenya.
More than 800,000 people have been affected by floods in South Sudan that have caused displacements and food insecurity challenges increase conflicts between communities, according to the United Nations.
In Kenya, the movement of pastoralists in search of pasture in other areas due to drought has led to fights between communities, causing deaths.
“In Somalia, it started with drought, then desert locusts, then floods, followed by the pandemic, and now drought. It has been one extreme event after another that communities have had no chance to recover,” she said.
Ogallo said the frequent climate events are putting financial strain on African governments, which now have to use development money for emergency response activities.
She said IGAD is hoping to have a coordinated mechanism for dealing with security challenges arising from climate change.
Elizabeth Carabine, the climate security advisor at the Office of the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General to the Horn of Africa, said climate events force people to move, increasing competition for resources and leading to conflicts.
“People displaced by climate events are more prone to conflicts that lead to instabilities. Climate change has become a threat to peace and security, and that is a discussion African governments, African Union, and other regional bodies must be prepared to have and find solutions,” she said.
