Recpect laws of conflict, Kayonga tells EAC military officers

Musanze – The Rwanda Defence Force Chief of Defence Staff, Lt Gen Charles Kayonga, has advised military officers from the East African Community to adhere to professional ethics and respect laws of armed conflict when they face military operational dilemmas.

Saturday, March 24, 2012
Millitary officers were awarded certificates after completion. The New Times / B. Mukombozi.

Musanze – The Rwanda Defence Force Chief of Defence Staff, Lt Gen Charles Kayonga, has advised military officers from the East African Community to adhere to professional ethics and respect laws of armed conflict when they face military operational dilemmas.He was speaking at the closing ceremony of a three-week training workshop on Military Ethics and the law of armed conflict, attended by 30 senior military officers drawn from EAC member states at the Rwanda Military Academy in Musanze District. Kayonga called on the officers to be more versatile and efficient to deal with new emerging threats such as asymmetric cyber terrorism. "As civilised nations, we should always desire to prevent unnecessary suffering and destruction during operations, one party may not care about human suffering especially the loss of innocent human lives, like the scenarios of 1994 Genocide,”  Kayonga noted.The training, which was facilitated by Brig. Carl Erdlingher and Dr Van Baardar from the Dutch Defence Academy, is a result of bilateral cooperation between the governments of Netherlands and Rwanda to enhance professionalism of the armies to meet challenges in the area of humanitarian and peace support operations.