Rwanda Defence Forces off to South Africa for African Union Military Exercises

A total of 41 officers and men of Rwanda Defence Forces left Kigali on 14 October 2015 to the Republic of South Africa to participate in the African Union Commission Field Training Exercise codenamed Amani Africa II. The Exercise will be conducted at the South Africa Army Combat Training Centre (CTC) in the Northern Cape from 17 October to 7 November 2015.

Rwandan Contingent led by Lt Col Martin Kagarura (in front) will engage in a series of military exercises aimed at evaluating the readiness of the African Standby Force (ASF) and its Rapid Deployment Capability (RDC) towards achieving full operational capability by December 2015.

The Republic of Rwanda is participating in Amani Africa II as Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) Member State and a Volunteer Nation to the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crisis (ACIRC).

Briefing the contingent before leaving for South Africa, the Army Chief of Staff, Maj General Kamanzi Mushyo (in front) urged them to represent Rwanda adequately and to make friends while working together with other Contingents.

“Bear in mind that you are going representing Rwanda and the RDF, maintain discipline and make friends for Rwanda and the RDF, we have no doubt that you will represent us as it is required”,  the Army Chief of Staff emphasised.

Amani Africa II Exercise is set to be conducted in two phases. The Participants in the first phase will have training drills on “Rapid Intervention Scenario” in the cases of genocide or other major violations that require ASF to intervene within 14 days. For the second phase of the Exercise, the Participants will be exercising on the deployment of Peacekeeping Force.

The first Continental Exercise (Amani Africa I) to evaluate the operational readiness of the ASF was conducted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in October 2010; Amani Africa One was a Command Post Exercise.

The contributing countries to the Exercise are Angola, Algeria, Burundi, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

MoD

UM– USEKE.RW