Rwanda National Police

Twenty-five police officers from Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda currently attending the course on African Union peacekeeping standards at the Police Training School Gishari in Rwamagana District, on October 7, visited Kigali Genocide Memorial to pay tribute to victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The officers from Eastern Africa Standby Force member states, were also at the memorial as part of their month-long Formed Police Unit (FPU) Training of Trainers course that seeks to transform them into certified trainers on AU peacekeeping and support standards.

At the memorial centre, where they laid wreaths and held a minute of silence in memory of over one million innocent lives killed 24 years ago, they were given the history behind the dark period, the failures of the UN to prevent it, how it was stopped and how the country has moved on in unity, reconciliation, security and development aspects.

One of the course participants from Uganda, Supt. Etima Twaha Maula, said that preventing such from happening again in any country requires security institutions and countries in General to work together as Africans.

"We are being trained to be trainers for Formed Police Units; one of the mandate of FPU is to see that people are secure in areas where peacekeepers are deployed. So, when we see insecurity in any of our countries, we need to respond very fast so that it doesn't take the direction like we have seen here," Twaha said.

His counterpart from Ethiopia, Commander Assefa Tegenu Sebsibe, said: "This shows how human beings can be heartless. We have learnt about the disastrous history, but we have also seen how the country has recovered, people reunited and living together peace, and this also challenges us as the very people with the responsibility to collect the past."

He added: "We have to harmonise our laws and procedures, and to be the answers to our problems. work together as countries and police institutions to be stronger before our common challenges."