Twenty senior officers in the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) on Friday, November 19 completed a United Nations training of military observers, which was held at Rwanda Peace Academy in Musanze District.

Military observers monitor and verify ceasefire violations as well as human rights violations in mission areas. They also carry out various investigations and report on routine as well as special circumstances.

The "United Nations Military Observers Training of Trainers Course," which started on November 8, was organised by the Rwanda Peace Academy (RPA) in partnership with British Peace Support Team-Africa and the United Nations Integrated Training Service (ITS).

The officers are expected to train their RDF colleagues.

"The idea of the training was conceived by the RDF leadership and the officers who participated in it were selected by the RDF. We need people who have enough capacity to solve problems,” said Col (Rtd) Jill Rutaremara, the Director of the Rwanda Peace Academy.

He added: "As trainers, they will not only train Rwandans, buy they are also recognized by the UN for peacekeeping missions. For the best performers, specifically, they will travel around the world to train other people, beyond training Rwandans.”

During the two weeks, the officers were trained by UN officers from different countries such as Brazil, Uruguay, Germany and Nigeria.

They said the training was an important experience.

"During the time we have spent here, we learnt military observers behave in peacekeeping missions, how they protect themselves and how they work with civilians as well as how they do their daily work,” Catherine Mutegwaraba said.

She added that the training gave them the valuable capacity to train other military observers both in Rwanda and beyond.

Rwanda is the third-largest contributor of peacekeepers in the world and the second in Africa.