Burkinabe army chief meets Kabarebe and Nyamvumba

A delegation of army officials from Burkina Faso is in the country to explore avenues of strengthening military ties between the two countries. 

Saturday, July 06, 2013
Defence minister Kabarebe and Brig. Gen. Traore exchange a gift yesterday.Saturday Times/ Courtsey.

A delegation of army officials from Burkina Faso is in the country to explore avenues of strengthening military ties between the two countries.  Yesterday, the Burkinabe delegation, led by the Chief of General Staff, Brig. Gen. Nabere Honore Traore met with Defence minister James Kabarebe and Gen. Patrick Nyamvumba, the Chief of Defence Staff of the Rwanda Defence ForcesAccording to the Defence and Military Spokesperson, Brig. Gen .Joseph Nzabamwita, strengthening military cooperation with the West African nation was an important aspect of the meetings."Rwanda and Burkina Faso enjoy a good relationship and as armed forces, we would want to learn from each other,” he said in interview.Gen. Traore said his country wanted to learn from Rwanda’s experience in various military aspects like peacekeeping and the whole operational structure of the Rwanda Defence Forces.Currently, the RDF deploys more than 3,200 peacekeepers in Darfur, Sudan and over 850 in South Sudan.The delegation will visit the Musanze-based Rwanda Peace Academy and learn about the operation of the Military Medical Insurance (MMI), among other RDF institutions.In May, this year, the Minister of Livestock and Fisheries of Burkina Faso, Jérémy Tinga Ouedraogo, visited Rwanda and met Dr. Agnes Kalibata, Rwanda’s Minister of Agriculture and Animal Resources, to learn about Rwanda’s achievements, especially in the One-Cow- Per-Poor-Family-Programme (Girinka). The Girinka programme, which was started in 2006 to help address malnutrition, is a home-grown solution which bands together social cohesion, health, and community welfare.