President Paul Kagame has tipped Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) soldiers on the army’s purpose of protecting peace and preventing wars other than waging them.

He was speaking during the final field exercise of the RDF's Combined Arms Field Training Exercise code-named Exercise Hard Punch 04/2023, at the RDF Combat Training Centre, Gabiro on Thursday, August 17.

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"RDF does not exist to wage wars, it exists to prevent wars and protect peace. You have shown this here at home, and abroad, in the many places where you have gone to lend a helping hand to those with whom we share a lot as Africans and to other friends who are in need of our help,” he told the soldiers.

The Hard Punch exercise is normally conducted by the RDF&039;s 1st and 3rd divisions and is characterised by a final operational demonstration on how different military capabilities are integrated and synchronised, in a military operation at the level of an Infantry Division.

"We are not an army that only protects the country we participated in building it, we are still building it and we will continue to play our part,” he said, as he called upon the soldiers to be disciplined in their profession.

"Discipline is the key to succeeding in our job. Discipline enables us to use our limited means efficiently, allocating the little we have where it is most needed,” he said.

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However, he noted that discipline is not enough on its own, "but it is what we build on.”

"There is knowledge and understanding which helps build our capabilities. Because you can have discipline but if you don’t have knowledge, education, and training that discipline itself will not get you anywhere without building on it,” he said.

Previous Hard Punch exercises took place in December 2018 and November 2016.