Activities to mark Liberation Day, on July 4, have already started. A town hall meeting, broadcast live on public radio and television featured senior government officials, including the Minister of Defense who highlighted the level of professionalism that characterizes the Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) – the army that brought the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi to an end and liberated the country from a divisive government.

While the RDF’s main mission is to defend the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of the country, this has been expanded to include a wide range of activities.

Annually, the RDF conducts an ‘Army Week’ whereby the troops reach out to the Rwandan people at the grass root levels and help improve their welfare through various activities. The people have benefited from dental care, eye operations and construction of bridges, classrooms and homes for the less privileged, to mention but a few.

With RDF’s model farms spread out in various parts of the country, the military have shown that they are part and parcel of the country’s development process and are determined to free the Rwandan people from poverty.

Beyond our borders, the troops have been exemplary in the various peace keeping missions, bringing respect, pride and dignity to Rwanda.

The RDF has demonstrated the same spirit and determination it had during the Liberation of the Rwanda people from the genocidal regime. Such attitude has not only helped build a professional force that has guaranteed the security of Rwanda, but   has also contributed to the development of our country.

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