President Faustin-Archange Touadéra of the Central African Republic (CAR) on Tuesday, August 6, received the Army Chief of Staff of Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Maj Gen Vincent Nyakarundi and his delegation at Renaissance Palace in the capital Bangui.

Their meeting followed Monday's graduation of 634 CAR soldiers, the second cohort to be trained by the RDF, in a ceremony that was presided over by President Touadéra.

According to the Head of Rwanda's Mission in CAR, Olivier Kayumba, the Rwandan military leader thanked President Touadéra for his will to develop a professional army.

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Nyakarundi also urged Rwandan military commanders to continue training more CAR soldiers to make sure that the cooperation between the two countries yields fruitful results.

Nyakarundi expressed Rwanda&039;s wish to see the Central African army capable of maintaining peace and security in Bangui and the rest of the country.

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Before his meeting with Touadéra, Nyakarundi had met with the Rwandan contingent deployed under a bilateral agreement with the CAR government, at an RDF special forces base in Bimbo, a locality in the Ombella-M'poko prefecture.

At the base Nyakarundi also met with the Chief of General Staff of the Central African Republic Armed Forces, Gen Zepherin Mamadou.

Mamadou said his country had a lot of lessons to learn from Rwanda's post-Genocide experience as it emerges from war and insurgency.

The CAR military leader also thanked Rwandan troops for their service, saying they had established a strong connection with the Central African people.

"Our citizens feel happy when they see Rwandan peacekeepers because they serve well and with commitment,” Mamadou said.