The Minister of Defence, James Kabarebe, yesterday, met with Ambassador Anthony Holmes, a senior official with US Army Africa Command (USAFRICOM) and discussed closer cooperation.

According to Holmes, they also conferred on peace and security in the region.
 
"We talked about Somalia, Congo [DRC], the East African Community, and the EASBRIG standby force of the African Union and how to move beyond the progress we’ve made, bilaterally, between the US and Rwanda, to expand the progress to the entire region,” Holmes said.

The US diplomat noted that the RDF has drawn enough lessons that the region can benefit from.

"They are improving their curriculum and they are making suggestions on both how to make their own training more effective and how to improve the effectiveness of the training for other forces in the region,” he said.

According to the outgoing US Ambassador to Rwanda, Stuart Symington, Rwanda is drawing on its experience in Darfur to help strengthen the training it has to offer.

Before the meeting, Holmes visited Gisozi Genocide Memorial, where he laid a wreath to honour victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

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