The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) announced that the body of deceased General (Rtd) Marcel Gatsinzi arrived in Rwanda on March 12 from Belgium where he succumbed to illness on March 6, while undergoing treatment.

His body was received by the Minister of Defence, Maj Gen Albert Murasira along RDF General and senior officers, and family members at Kigali International Airport.

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"Burial arrangements will be communicated later,” RDF said in a statement.

Previously, RDF extended its condolences and joined the family in grief during this sad moment.

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Gen Gatsinzi was born on January 9, 1948, and started his formal education at Collège Saint-André in Nyamirambo where he graduated with a diploma in 1968.

His military career began at the then-Kigali Military Academy in the same year (1968), and he was commissioned as a second lieutenant on March 31, 1970.

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He pursued his military career courses in Belgium at Heverlee (Louvain) in the School of Logistics in 1971 and Brussels at the Royal High Institute of Defence from 1974 to 1976.

Gen Gatsinzi served in various leadership roles for the army and country including serving as Rwanda’s Minister of Defence from 2002 to 2010, and as the Minister of Disaster Preparedness and Refugee Affairs from 2010 to 2013.