RDF officers train in “Military in Internal Security Operations” at RPA

Musanze, 27 January 2020

A total of 20 Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Senior and Junior Officers  began a workshop dubbed “Military in Internal Security Operations (MiSO)” at the Rwanda Peace Academy (RPA). The training aims to enhance participants’ awareness of their obligations under national law guided by International Laws, norms and standards as well as their ability to lawfully and appropriately exercise law enforcement powers.

Robert Polley, the ICRC Regional Delegate to Armed and Security Forces said that the workshop will help officers to know how they operate alongside other security organs. “The ICRC is going to be working with the RDF officers this week to explore how the military operates when called upon by the government to offer assistance to civil authorities. Because there is a whole body of laws, conventions, codes of conduct, principles… that your Police Force can understand very well, but it’s not in the normal world of the military,” said Mr Polley.

The four-day workshop is organized in partnership between the Rwanda Peace Academy and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).