KIGALI - 45 officers of the Rwanda National Police (RNP) yesterday  returned home with medals after successfully serving, for one year, under the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

The officers who were led by Supt. Gerald Sezibera are part of the contingent of 81 officers deployed last year. The other 36 will complete their mission next year.

The officers, who include four females, worked as advisors and trainers for the local Sudanese police. They were welcomed by the Commissioner General of Police (CGP), Emmanuel Gasana who commended them for their commitment to serve to their required standards.

"Such medals also make our country recognized. The more we work better the more we are acknowledged internationally,” Gasana noted.

He thanked them for their outstanding discipline during their mission and appealed to them to use the experience gained in enhancing the force’s professionalism.

The police chief observed that crimes currently being committed internationally have changed shape which needs experience and professionalism to deal with them.

"We hope the experience gained therefore shall be used to combat such modern crimes. Use the package you came with to enhance the country’s peace and security,” he said.

He singled out organizing and modernizing the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), timely and efficient service delivery of the traffic police, standardized anti-terrorism and the philosophy of community policing as the force’s priority areas.

Gasana also briefed them on the current activities within the force which include cadet recruitment, refresher, command and senior management courses which are undergoing, regional police rotation and the ongoing exercise of sending officers for further studies both within and outside the country.

The Peacekeeping missions by the force started in 2005 when the first police contingent was deployed in Darfur. Currently, there are about 240 police officers on mission, most of them in Sudan (UNAMIS), Darfur (UNAMID) and Haiti.

CSP Simon Peter Mukama, who is in charge of peacekeeping operations in the force, said that a contingent of 92 female officers, the first of its kind, will be deployed in Darfur this Saturday to train their counterparts in fighting Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the war torn Darfur.
Another contingent of 100 officers will be deployed in the same area on October 23.

Meanwhile about 160 police officers will also be deployed in the eastern part of the recent earthquake hit Haiti, to providehumanitarian assistance, security of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and crowd control under United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

This will bring the number of police officers in Haiti to 204 following the recent deploying of 44 others who are working as police advisors.

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