KIGALI - A contingent of 92 female police officers yesterday left for the United Nations Mission in the war-torn Darfur (UNAMID) where they will act as advisors on Gender Based Violence (GBV) related issues.

The contingent, led by Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) Dinah Mutesi, will be on the mission for one year.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Stanley Nsabimana, with other senior police officers, presided over the send-off at Kigali International Airport.

The officers will help in providing protection to children and help the local police handle children and female criminals.
The group, the first of its kind since 2005 when the first police contingent was deployed in Darfur, and the first of its kind in Africa, will also work within Internally Displaced Camps and help in the introduction of the GBV Desk in the area.

Following the civil war that ravaged Darfur for about a decade when a rebel movement, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) group took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs, women and young children became vulnerable to various forms of violence, including rape and sexual assault.

Rwanda is known worldwide as one of the leading countries in combating GBV following the establishment of a Gender Desk in the national police, the national Gender Monitoring Office and Isange One-Stop Centre which offers free treatment and counselling of the GBV victims.

Police Spokesperson, Supt. Eric Kayiranga said that Rwanda was recognized in laying strategies to deal with GVB and community policing issues "and Rwanda was selected as a country that can help others to also deal with such issues.”

"We are happy that we are going to contribute as requested by the United Nations and we shall continue doing the same,” Kayiranga added.

The deployment of the female officers brings the number of police officers currently on mission to 372 serving in Khartoum (UNAMIS), Darfur (UNAMID), Haiti (MINUSTAH), Liberia and Chad.

About other 226 officers are yet to be deployed in Darfur, Haiti and Southern Sudan.

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