The Chief of Police Selection and Recruitment Section at the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operation, Ata Yenigun, is in the country on an invitation of Rwanda National Police (RNP) to assess the readiness of an all-female contingent of Formed Police Unit (FPU) peacekeepers set to be deployed soon.
Yenigun arrived in the country on Tuesday and held talks with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Emmanuel K. Gasana on Wednesday.
The 140 strong all-female Police Unit that he will be inspecting was pledged by HE President Paul Kagame at the UN Leaders’ Summit on peacekeeping Operations, in September last year.
Following the commitment made by the Head of State, RNP immediately embarked on preparing the force for deployment.
While meeting the IGP at the Rwanda National Police (RNP) headquarters in Kacyiru, yesterday, Yenigun said that during his one-week stay in Rwanda, he intends to interact with the leadership of RNP to look into the operational readiness of the police unit.
“We will be discussing issues related to human resource engagement, the pre-deployment training that is in place and the procurement of the contingent equipment for the unit that is intended to be deployed. My goal is to give the necessary advice and guidance to the Rwandan authorities to make sure that this unit is well utilized and ready for deployment for peace operations, hopefully by the end of this year or early next year,” Yenigun said.
“There has been a boom in terms of Rwandan police deployment which is currently ranked the fourth police contributing country among the 100 contributing states… Rwanda is setting a good example in terms of leadership, field mission and at the UN headquarters,” he added.
He hastened to detail that there are unique experiences drawn from Rwandan police peacekeepers like the use of both English and French, having expertise in specialized areas and skills of understanding the formation of police in post conflict areas.
“Rwanda is setting a good example by sending a high number of female to peacekeeping missions and currently Rwanda is the leading contributor of female in peacekeeping with 16 percent. We are also proud having senior police officers in our leadership in Ivory Coast and South Sudan.”
The Senior Police officers are Commissioner of Police (CP) Vianney Nshimiyimana currently the Police Commissioner for the United Nations Operations in Ivory Coast (UNOCI), CP Bruce Munyambo the Police Commissioner for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and CP Emmanuel Butera UNMISS police Chief of Operations.
During the meeting, IGP Gasana expressed Rwanda’s urge of continuing to contribute to global peacekeeping.
“Rwanda’s participation in Peace Support Operations is mainly motivated by the need to take its international responsibility as an active member of the international community,” said the IGP.
He went on to say that today, RNP is venturing into a new mode of policing that require advanced skills which is why the force has put much emphasis on training.
The Police Chief, however, expressed the need to harmonise training for peacekeepers in addressing emerging crimes like terrorism.
Speaking about policing, IGP Gasana pointed out that the country’s rapid transformation move at the same pace with innovation and advancement in policing to enhance the nation’s development agenda.
Yenigun later met with commanders of two contingents generated and set to be deployed under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS FPU) and the FPU female contingent.
Yenigun noted that by the beginning of next year, “Rwanda is likely to lead the table of countries contributing police peacekeepers in UN Missions.”
He is also expected to conduct a ground assessment of the forces that are currently at the Peacekeeping Training Centre at Police Training School in Gishari, Rwamagana District.
RNP
UM– USEKE.RW
