Rwanda National Police

A five-day training on physical security and stockpile management of weapons and ammunition started on Monday, June 5, at the Police Training School (PTS) Gishari in Rwamagana District.

The training bringing together 24 participants from Rwanda National Police (RNP), Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and Rwanda Correction Service (RCS), is conducted by the Regional Centre on Small Arms (RECSA) and the RNP.

Commissioner of Police (CP) Bruce Munyambo, while officially opening the training on behalf of the RNP leadership, said that it will further help in fighting proliferation of small arms and light weapons.

"Proliferation of small arms and light weapons fuel conflicts, undermines political stability and has devastating impact on human and state stability," CP Munyambo said.

He underscored that sustainable development cannot be achieved in the absence of peace and security.

"One way to guarantee peace, security and development is the control of small arms and light weapons, which sustain armed conflicts, instability, terrorism, cattle rustling and other serious crimes in the region," CP Munyambo said.

To prevent proliferation of small arms and light weapons, RECSA took different strategies, which include marking and tracing of small arms and light weapons, and record keeping.

To support these strategies, CP Munyambo said that the RNP allocated a piece of land at the Police Training School for the construction of small arms and light weapons training centre to enhance capacity building of member states.

He urged trainees to take the training seriously and to put the skills and knowledge gained to effective use

ACP Damas Gatare, the Director of Operations and Programmes at RECSA, said that this training fulfills some of the obligations of the Nairobi protocol to enhance the capacities of national law enforcement and security agencies, and the need for state parties to undertake and develop local, national and regional public community education and awareness programmes.

"There is an increasing trend of circulation of illicit and misuse of small arms in the region and negative effects caused by the proliferation of illicit weapons.

This training is very important for RECSA member states to train participants to assess national stockpiles, operational procedures and infrastructure, and provides ways for potential improvements in stockpile safety and security management," ACP Gatare said.

The physical security and stockpile management of weapons and ammunition follows other related training programmes conducted at PTS in the past.

These include maintenance and repair of arms marking machine, physical security and stockpile management, weapons and ammunition management and arms control training.