The Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. General Charles Kayonga, Friday inspected Akagera National Park fencing activities carried out by the Reserve Forces and the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission (RDRC).

The US$ 2.7 project is expected to be completed by a South African firm, TNH-EME, by February 2012.

Kayonga was accompanied by the Governor of the Eastern Province, Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, and senior military and government officials.

The work which was carried out by an RDRC affiliated cooperative, Inkeragutabara, covered a 110 kilometrs stretch, which separates the park from residential areas.

The activities were completed two months earlier than anticipated by Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

Addressing the officials and Reserve Forces, Kayonga said that the overall aim of fencing was to create an environment where animals and people live in harmony.

He said that much as the animals destroyed people’s lives and property, the reverse was also true to the animals.

Kayonga thanked all stakeholders for a formidable partnership they created to speed up the activities of fencing the Park.

According to Jean Bosco Rutayisre of TNH-EME, maintenance will be handled by TNH-EME, for one year and then handed over to RDB.

"The wiring will be 20 centimetres underground and 2.8 metres above the ground. We shall use solar energy...maintenance is not easy as animals especially elephants, use trees to destroy the fence,” Rutayisire said

The Park manager, Bryan Haveman, said that the fence was very important both to the people and the animals.

"It is a win-win situation...there are inevitable complexities involved in the fencing, especially, with farms on the way. At the end of the day, people have to be happy and the ecosystem must be maintained,” he said.

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