English
Kinyarwanda
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Emmanuel K. Gasana, on April 21 met with the 97 female Police officers who returned home last week after successfully completing a one year peacekeeping under the United Nations Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and thanked them for their professional conduct and discipline exhibited during their mission spell.
The officers acted as mentors and advisers to the local police force, especially in the areas of gender and domestic violence prevention.
During a debriefing at the Rwanda National Police headquarters in Kacyiru, the IGP who welcomed them back home thanked them for being “good ambassadors” and maintaining the “Rwandan pride and spirit” and keeping the flag high.
He said the force has continued the path to rebuilding the country and urged them to use the acquired skills be catalysts of this great cause to further renew their country which had been brought to ashes by the previous bad regime which culminated into the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
The IGP also informed them of the force’s measures to ensure homeland security in collaboration with other regional and international police forces to combat cross-border and transnational crimes.
He also briefed them on the major events hosted by Rwanda this year such as the third Sub-Saharan International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference and the 6th International Experts meeting on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity which aimed at fighting impunity and bringing fugitives to justice.
Rwanda maintains about 500 police officers in eight peacekeeping missions. The missions are Mali, South Sudan, Ivory Coast, Abyei, Haiti, Liberia, Darfur and Sierra Leone.
Rwandan police and military peacekeepers have been credited and awarded for their professional services in various missions.
The Rwanda Police peacekeepers have also initiated and supported various community development programmes in areas of their operation.
The Rwanda Police Formed Police Unit (FPU) contingent operating under the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (Minusma) recently donated an assortment of scholastic materials, clothes and tuition to needy pupils of Ecole fondamentale de Boulgoundjie in Gao city, who were orphaned or separated from their families during the rebellion in northern part of the country in 2012.
They also launched a food security awareness programme to encourage other peacekeepers and local security institutions to engage in various initiatives to assist vulnerable communities.
They also donated over 21,000 liters of clean water to vulnerable families of Soso Koira and Aljanabandja in Gao city.
About 90 per cent of Gao residents face extreme water shortage following the recent instability in the northern parts of Mali which destroyed infrastructures, including water tanks and pipes.
