President Paul Kagame, in his capacity as the Commander in Chief of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), has promoted two senior officers to the rank of Brigadier General and 14 others to Colonel.
ALSO READ: Rwanda, Uganda military chiefs discuss ties
A statement published by the RDF early Sunday, September 1 showed that Colonels Justus Majyambere and Louis Kanobayire had been promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, while 14 Lieutenant Colonels had been elevated to the rank of Colonel.
Both Majyambere and Kanobayire are currently on tours of duty, in Mozambique and South Sudan, respectively.
Brig Gen Majyambere is the Commander of Brigade Group Southern Sector (including former SAMIM zone), Cabo Delgado Mozambique. SAMIM is a peacekeeping mission of the SADC regional bloc in Cabo Delgado.
On the other hand, Brig Gen Kanobayire is currently serving under the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) where he&039;s the Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Operations and Plans. Previously, he served as Commandant of the Air Force School (RAF).
The newly promoted Colonels include Francis Nyagatare, Jessica Mukamurenzi, Mulinzi Mucyo, Alexis Kayisire, Emmanuel Rutebuka, Jacques Nzitonda, and Ephraim Ngoga. Others who have been elevated from Lieutenant Colonel to Colonel are Emmanuel Rukundo, Silver Munyaneza, Tanzi Mutabaruka, Prosper Rutabayiru, Hubert Nyakana, Joseph Kabanda, and Danny Gatsinzi.
Notably, Mukamurenzi becomes the eighth woman to become RDF Colonels after seven others were promoted to the same last year.
ALSO READ: Kagame, RDF top brass discuss security priorities
As part of the new promotions, 30 other personnel were promoted from the rank of Major to Lieutenant Colonel, 280 from Captain to Major, 40 from Lieutenant to Captain, and 270 from Second Lieutenant to Lieutenant.
The development comes two days after several General Officers and senior officers, including former Chief of Defence Staff Gen Jean-Bosco Kazura, and hundreds of other military personnel were retired from the Rwanda Defence Force.
Aside from Kazura, other top officers who were honourably sent into retirement this week include Brigadier Generals John Bagabo, John Bosco Rutikanga, Johnson Hodari, and Firmin Bayingana.
In addition, 170 senior officers and 992 soldiers of various ranks also went into retirement after either reaching retirement age or following expiry of their service contracts.