Rwanda: Rwanda Army General Gets Darful Top Job

By Kezio-Musoke David
The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
July 23, 2009

Kigali- A top Rwandan army officer, Lt. Gen. Patrick Nyanvumba has beaten other candidates from Nigeria and Ethiopia to be selected the overall Force Commander of thee peace keeping mission in the troubled region of Darfur, Sudan.

According to press report in Kigali, the United Nations Security Council has appointed Lt Gen.

Nyanvumba to head the United Nations-African Union Mission (UNAMID).UNAMID a hybrid UN-African Union (AU) has a primary mission to support the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, as well as to protect its personnel and civilians.

At full strength, UNAMID which had about 20,000 troops, 6,000 police and a significant civilian component, is still one of the largest UN peacekeeping operations in history.

Though faced with lots of logistical and deployment challenges the force aims to protect civilians in Darfur, where more than 2.5 million people have fled their home. An estimated 200,000 have died in the conflict in the past four years.

The New Times, an English daily in Kigali reported that Gen. Nyanvumba resume was scrutinised in May this year and he passed the interviewing process on the 5th of May 2009 in New York. Information attributed to an army sources said that the General's notification of his approval came in on the 16th of July 2009.

The General who starts work on the 10th of September for a period of one year is the second Rwanda top army officer to be appointed in top leadership positions of the UNAMID forces.

Earlier on another Rwanda Defense Forces' (RDF) Maj. Gen. Emmanuel Karenzi Karake was in July 2007 named as Deputy Force Commander of the hybrid UN-AU under the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

Maj Jill Rutaremara, the Military Spokesman in Rwanda said in statement issued Tuesday that,"His (Gen. Nyanvumba) initial tour of duty will be from 1st September 2009 for a period of one year."

"Lt Gen. Nyamvumba will attend an official briefing at the UN Secretariat in New York before reporting to the UNAMID Headquarters in Elfasher, Darfur.

The notification letter was signed on 16 July 2009," the statement added.Lt Gen Nyanvumba currently heads the Military High Court and is the Chief of Military Logistics (J4).

The Rwandan army officials said on Wednesday morning that they received this appointment as recognition of the positive role that Rwanda's RDF has played in Darfur and other peacekeeping missions elsewhere.

Rwanda has sent about 3,000 soldiers in Darfur.Lt Gen Nyanvumba's ascendance to the UNAMID top military position makes him the first Rwandan to head this peacekeeping force.

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