Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dan Munyuza, on Wednesday, November 3, received the Director General for Gendarmerie Nationale of Central African Republic (CAR),Landry Urlich Depot.
Director General Landry and his delegation are in Rwanda since Tuesday for a six-day visit to cement policing cooperation between Rwanda National Police (RNP) and the Gendarmerie Nationale of CAR.
While speaking during the bilateral meeting held at the RNP General Headquarters in Kacyiru, Munyuza said the visit is an opportunity to build strong cooperation between the two institutions.
"Rwanda National Police is pleased to join hands with our brothers from the Gendarmerie of Central African Republic as we work together to provide peace and security of our respective countries," IGP Munyuza said.
"Rwanda and the Central African Republic are reliable partners in ensuring safety and security since 2013 when CAR experienced violence,” he added.
Rwanda was the first country to deploy Police peacekeepers to CAR in 2014 and currently maintains three Police contingents of combined 460 officers.
Other 36 officers work as Police Advisors. The head of the Police component of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) is also a Rwandan--Commissioner of Police (CP) Christophe Bizimungu.
"Rwanda forces under the UN peacekeeping mission stood together with Central African Republic forces to ensure the country becomes stable and secure. We commit to foster these joint efforts to ensure that peace continues to prevail in Central African Republic,” IGP Munyuza said.
He stressed that contemporary policing requires cooperation and training to respond effective to emerging security threats.
"In this era of policing, law enforcement agencies are required to work closely together if we are to confront security challenges that are organized and transnational in nature. Most importantly, we need to train law enforcement officers and equip them with necessary knowledge and skills to combat crimes such as violent extremism, terrorism, drug trafficking, economic and financial crimes among others,” said IGP Munyuza.
As a Rwandan policy, he said, RNP is always ready to share the expertise and experience with partners in Africa and beyond to work together to strengthen peace and security on the continent.
On his part, Director General Landry said that they will benefit more from the visit and partnership
"We are very honored to visit this friendly country to present our compliments to the Rwandan Government and in particular to the Inspector General of RNP. We are here to establish bilateral cooperation between our two institutions," DG Landry said.
"We are very happy to visit this country historically known for its expertize in facing its challenges to guarantee the well-being of this nation and its citizens," he added.
Gendarmerie Nationale of CAR, he said, believes in this cooperation to support them in the implementation of their community policing programme.
"We are in a globalized world where we need to work together to address the challenges and particularly to restore the state authority throughout Central African Republic. We cannot achieve this without working together with our partners.”
During his stay in Rwanda, DG Landry will also visit other RNP facilities including the National Police College (NPC) in Musanze district, Police Training School (PTS) Gishari and regional police units.