Every year, on July 4, Rwandans celebrate the anniversary of liberation. July 1994 saw the end of the war of liberation of Rwanda, which had begun in 1990, launched by the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA).

It is time to celebrate the achievements made in the reconstruction journey, which began after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi had been stopped by the RPA, the military wing of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi).

The decades since 1994 have seen Rwanda rebuild from the ashes of genocide, transform socio-economically and position itself as an epitome of post-conflict recovery.

To reflect on this journey, The New Times’ Moise Bahati sat down with Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Spokesperson, Brig Gen Ronald Rwivanga and talked about Rwanda’s security, lessons learnt over the three-decade period, the country’s contribution to peace operations in foreign countries and the future of the RDF.

It has been 30 years since Rwanda was liberated by the RPA forces, who also stopped the Genocide against the Tutsi. How has the journey been since 1994?

It has been a very progressive journey, a journey in which we began from scratch. We had to build political, economic and social institutions from scratch.

A number of achievements have been made in those three areas.

Politically, we managed to integrate other political parties into the political discourse of the country. We had several discussions that were held on the political front regarding the integration of different parties, following the Arusha Peace Agreement, and that has been continuously refined to integrate as many people in the political activities of the country.

Then when it comes to the economy, the RPF and RPA did a lot to improve the economy. Clearly, you can see that institutions were developed over the 30 years.

We started with a small structure of civil service, which grew into a very unbureaucratic and efficient system that is IT-based, and that has been run on very efficient structures.

With regard to social transformation, we did a lot in trying to integrate people together. We abolished the identity card that had ethnic specifications and we are putting all our focus on Ndi Umunyarwanda.

We are all Rwandans. It doesn't matter which ethnic group you’re coming from. That has played a very important part in our transformation.

Then, in regard to the military, which is basically the bedrock of our transformation, it is from the military that a lot of activities started. Our President in 1993 stressed clearly that our army would set the stage for the transformation of the entire nation and it has done that.

We started from a small force of RPA soldiers, which expanded to include the ex-FAR [the former Rwandan army]. We integrated them to form the Rwanda Defence Force, which also became more professional.

The leadership was also adjusted to have a Chief of Defence Staff at the helm.

Now, we have four services: the Army, the Air Force, the Reserve Force and the Military Health Service.

There's been a lot of internal changes. We expanded our colleges. We now have the four big colleges and some other schools at the lower level. So, all these institutions are functional and efficient.

What are some of the significant lessons that have been learnt over the past three decades?

A number of good lessons. One is the lesson that you need to be patient, you need to accept each other in your various differences. This is something that has helped us to move forward, and forget about the past. Forgiveness is a very critical part in reconciliation.

It was no longer important for us to keep seeking retribution for things that had happened and for people who were probably influenced by others to do bad things. This is a very important aspect that we have implemented and that has reconciled our society in every facet of our life.

That's one of the biggest achievements that we've had and it has helped us advance. We can teach people lessons and many people actually come to study reconciliation and transformation.

What should Rwandans expect on July 4 as part of Liberation Day celebrations?

First of all, we're going to have a big event at Amahoro Stadium, which we opened a couple of days ago. We will have a parade, which will be done by both Rwanda National Police and the RDF.

We will have a flamboyant ceremony from our musical band. And the events that will precede that will be quite exciting. We'll also have various artists during the event. It will be quite a lively event.

2024 marks 20 years since Rwanda began to contribute troops to UN Peacekeeping Missions. Why is it important for the RDF to contribute to these missions?

It stems from our history. In 1994, the RPA and the general community was deserted by the United Nations peacekeeping force, partly because they were not given the requisite reinforcements. So, our joining peacekeeping missions was based on the fact that we needed to set an example of how it should be done.

We have done it in different parts of the continent. We went to Darfur in 2004.

We were the first force to deploy in Darfur and this was driven by our desire to set a very good example in responding towards acts of genocide. We can say with certainty that our contribution played a very significant part in creating stability in Darfur.

Same with South Sudan, although the conflict is still ongoing. However, we played our own part in trying to bring sanity in South Sudan. The conflict mirrors what we went through.

The inter tribal rivalries that are there are something that we can provide lessons for. Same with the Central African Republic, where you have the Anti-balaka and Seleka rebels from the Muslim and the Christian groups fighting against each other, and the CPC, Coalition Patriotic Change, of former President François Bozize fighting against a new system that was elected.

In all those conflict scenarios we have been involved in, we have undertaken the task of supporting the government to re-establish state authority and to create a peaceful environment for the political transformation of the country.

We do that because it has worked in our case, although, in our case we were fighting an oppressive system. I want to stress that our support of states must be based on principles and values, that this government is a legitimately elected government. This happened in the Central African Republic and Mozambique. We support nations that have a political system that is legitimately established.

How did RDF’s bilateral operations in Central Africa Republic and Mozambique come into being?

It all started from the bilateral agreements that were signed between our countries, but also because they had requested our country to help, based on our track record, based on our history.

In the Central African Republic, President Faustin-Archange Touadera requested our President to support in bringing stability and this was clearly a legitimate concern, the United Nations was involved and there was no dispute about it. It was necessary for us to support.

But I must stress that in 2020, even when the UN forces were in place, there was the threat of the CPC attacking peacekeepers and possibly toppling the legitimately elected government. So, we came in to respond in support of a legitimate cause, legitimate at national and international level.

We came in and were able to halt the advance of the CPC. Today, we can safely say that there is a return to normalcy and the UN peacekeeping force is also in place. So, we are working together to maintain the status quo.

Then in Mozambique, President Filipe Nyusi requested our President to support, I think, based on our track record in the Central African Republic.

He requested the same support to deal with Ansar al-Sunna wal Jammah terrorists who had ravaged Cabo Delgado, the northern province, for four years, killing 3,000 people, displacing 800,000 and destabilising the region, stopping projects from taking off.

We were called in and our force was ready. Within one month, we were able to dislodge these insurgents from all their strongholds. They moved down south and we are still there, trying to deal with them.

But we have already covered about three quarters of the journey. We've achieved quite a lot in that direction and we are happy about it.

How effective is this form of bilateral operations, compared to the UN peacekeeping model?

I wouldn’t even want to compare the two because there are advantages to each. One of the advantages of bilateral interventions is that you don't have to go through the bureaucracies that the multilateral organisations of the United Nations and the African Union need to go through.

But this is not to say that if they decide to engage, they are not as effective.

In bilateral engagements, it is a host nation requesting a friendly nation to support. So, there are not so many negotiations. It's just a decision and the forces plan and deploy.

The second aspect of bilateral interventions, and an advantage, is that we have a doctrine of the supporting nation operating the same way of fighting, the same command. Everything that they do, they do it as one unified force, which is not the case in multilateral undertakings.

In multilateral undertakings, you have seven countries, all operating with their own doctrine. And therefore, many a time, there is a problem of unity of command. But, of course, multilateral undertakings are heavily financed and are quite big.

Another thing is that even after creating a peaceful environment, multilateral entities keep the peace effectively because they provide the necessary resources.

They provide humanitarian assistance – the United Nations is perfect in that line of support. It's important for us to work together. So, one does not replace the other.

Where do you see Rwanda’s security and the RDF in the next 30 years?

We see ourselves improving in different ways. Of course, as we advance, the military needs to be more professional. It needs to be more technological. We need to get better. We need to be more precise in everything we do, one, to reduce casualties wherever we operate.

We need to be precise and select individuals that are responsible without collateral damage. That's very important for us. That's why we need to be more advanced.

Two, our army is a transformational army. From our roles, we will continue to support communities wherever we deploy, both at home and abroad. Our Constitution allows us to partake in activities of transforming the society, socioeconomically.

So, wherever we go, it is a practice that our army is involved in supporting the communities that we seek to protect. Our perception of security is much broader than acts of stopping [armed] groups, we also need to build an environment that is conducive for national security to prevail.