KIGALI - A visiting delegation of officers from the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, yesterday, visited Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre to pay their respects to victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

After laying wreaths and taking a guided tour of the Memorial, Maj. Gen. Kwesi Yankson, the Commandant of the college, described it as an ‘unimaginable history.’

"History should be a guide to us, that later, from this experience, we should not move in this same direction. Our leaders should learn from history and get away from this idea of leading our countries into this catastrophe,” Yankson said.

The group of 19 students drawn from Mali, South Africa, Ghana, and Gabon is here on a week-long study tour themed: "Promoting the Integration of Africa through Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological and Military Cooperation.”

From Gisozi, the group headed to the Ministry of Defence where they were informed of, among others, Rwanda’s contribution to peacekeeping in Africa.
"Every year, we visit five different countries in Africa,” said Yankson, explaining the reason for coming to Rwanda.

Defence and Military Spokesperson, Lt. Col. Jill Rutaremara, said the group paid a courtesy call to the Minister of Defence, Gen. James Kabarebe, and held discussions with the Chief of Defense Staff, Lt. Gen. Charles Kayonga.

Discussions with the CDS included how the college could help in establishing a planned RDF Command and Staff College.

 "We can use their instructors because they have experience in this. They have been in this business for long,” Rutaremara said.

He added that the visit aims at broadening the knowledge of students on economic, political and diplomatic circumstances in which the military instrument of power is exercised.

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