Rwanda National Police

A delegation from Malawi Police Force, on October 9, concluded a two-day visit at the Rwanda National Police (RNP) where they intended to learn best practices in international peacekeeping.

The four-member delegation was accompanied by two senior officers from the Norwegian Police Service, which is currently partnering with the Malawian government to advance the country’s peacekeeping profile.

During their tour, they visited the  Rwanda National Police Head Quarters, and made a courtesy call to  Inspector General of Police (IGP) Emmanuel K. Gasana, they also visited Police Training School in Gishari, Rwamagana District, which hosts the Peace Support Training Centre; National Police College in Musanze and Isange One Stop Centre at the Kacyiru Police Hospital.

At the end of the tour, Head of Delegation, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Jane Mandala, noted that RNP was selected for the study tour due to its reputation, renowned professionalism and significant contribution to United Nations peacekeeping missions.

“Rwanda is ranked the fifth largest contributor to UN Peacekeeping missions and among the leading contributors of UN female peacekeepers, among other achievements. This makes RNP an exemplary platform on which our country and others that seek to perform well can pick lessons from,” she said.

“From what we saw and learned at Gishari and Musanze, we noticed a great sense of professionalism, infrastructural development and training prowess, which explain why and how RNP has been able to offer exemplary peacekeeping services. These are exactly the kind of lessons we were hoping for."

Norwegian Commissioner of Police (CP) Bjorn Hareide, added that his country has a strong partnership with Malawi aimed at strengthening their peacekeeping departments – and that both countries decided to use Rwanda’s experience as a study to streamline Malawi’s peacekeeping programs.

“We expect Malawian Police to manage its peacekeeping missions with utmost professionalism like the way RNP does,” Hareide said.

Chief Supt. Claud Tembo, the Deputy Commissioner for Training, Research and Development at RNP, noted that the Malawian delegation is one of many other foreign delegations that have visited RNP to pick lessons from different aspects such as training, community policing, peacekeeping, crime reduction and prevention and many others.

Countries that have sent delegations to RNP in the past include, Benin, Burkina Faso, Zambia, Nigeria, Senegal, Ireland, among others.