Rwanda National Police

A high profile delegation from Angola, led by their Minister of Interior, Ângelo de Barros Veiga Tavares, yesterday, visited Rwanda National Police (RNP) – a tour of duty that aimed at deepening cooperation in different areas of policing.

Other members of the delegation included Angolan Police Chief, Alfredo Edwardo Manuel Mingas and the head of the prison services, Eugenio Pedro Alexandre.

The officials were received by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Emmanuel K. Gasana, who gave them an in-depth insight on RNP, right from its inception in the year 2000 to the current status.

The delegation expressed interest in learning more about RNP's growth and offered to send senior police officers for a "detailed technical exchange visit."

Minister Ângelo de Barros said that their visit to Rwanda is aimed at opening up more doors to strengthen cooperation between the two police forces. 

“Certainly, there is going to be more exchange visits in expanded areas of public order management. Just like Rwanda, Angola has also seen hard times in her past and now embarking on enhancing her foreign cooperation,” he said.

He added: “It requires Police-Police cooperation to tackle emerging cross-border security threats particularly, cybercrimes, drug trafficking, human trafficking, terrorism and money laundering, among others. Through this kind of cooperation, we can counter any negative forces that may want to destabilize our countries. It’s time to take stronger steps towards realizing our cooperation.”

IGP Gasana explained to the delegation that RNP values Police-Police cooperation to effevtively address cross-border security challenges.

“We are looking forward to a stronger partnership in policing, exchange of best practices as well as learning from each other,” said IGP Gasana.

Other members of the Angolan delegation included the Director General of Migration and foreign services, the director of exchange and cooperation in the Interior Ministry, officials from the housing project assigned to the ministry and the head of bilateral cooperation in the ministry among others.

They also toured several departments of RNP including the Police Hostel where he was given a glimpse into RNP’s welfare programme, Fire and Rescue Brigade, Isange One Stop Centre as well as Rwanda Forensic Laboratory.

Minister Ângelo de Barros and his delegation later visited Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre to pay tribute to victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Meanwhile, prior to his visit at RNP, Minister Tavares and his delegation paid a courtesy call to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Johnston Busingye where they also discussed areas of cooperation at a policy level.