On Sunday, the last batch of the 51st battalion returned home from the troubled Sudan region of Darfur, where it has gallantly tried to restore some peace.

It was heartening to learn from the battalion’s commander, Lt. Col. Ludovick Mugisha that the troops were effective in their mission in Darfur and that security there was improving.

"There is a visible improvement in terms of security in Darfur compared to what was on the ground a year ago when we had just been deployed,” he said.

The last batch of the 680-strong 51 battalion operated under the auspices of the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

Rwanda and Africa as a whole should celebrate this great news. In 2003, when trouble brewed in Darfur, there was fear of a possible Genocide – to date hundreds of lives have been lost, with thousands displaced.

Rwanda was among the first countries to respond by volunteering to stop the suffering of the Sudanese people and contribute to efforts to find peace and stability while checking further loss of human life. 

Rwanda did not want to see what happened to her in 1994 repeat itself in the Darfur. She showed her commitment to the ‘Never Again’ vow.

Never to watch as people helplessly get slaughtered in another Genocide because she was also well aware of the danger that loomedand how the "International Community” watched from a distance as her very own were massacred in 1994. 

It’s therefore a great relief hearing from those who have served on the ground, proclaim that things are getting better.

Rwanda has sent other troops to take over the 51st battalion, so that what has been built does not crumble. And it will not.

Ends