A young female cadet officer of Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) was on Friday declared overall winner of a global competition in the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) held in Sanremo, Italy last week. According to a statement from RDF, Rwandan Officer Cadet, Arielle Ingabire Sekamana was one of the three cadets from Rwanda Military Academy, Gako, who represented the country at the global competition that drew officers from 23 military academies across the world. The others are Michael Nsengiyumva and Nelson Ndahiro and were all accompanied by Major Augustin Hodari. “In this annual competition, the academies provided teams of three Officer-Cadets from top military academies around the world that were evaluated on the basic knowledge and understanding of the critical importance of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in multinational military operations,” reads part of an RDF statement. The cadets were divided into multinational mixed teams representing imaginary countries involved in an escalating international armed conflict. The competition had 2 phases including a preliminary phase and a practical phase. The practical phase was conducted in the format of simulated Joint Operation Centers (JOC) with involved Cadets required to assess scenarios of armed conflict and provide legal advises on appropriate responses basing on legal and military skills. “The Cadets were evaluated on their knowledge of LOAC, effective communication, effective team work and the ability to merge various diplomatic, legal and military imperatives,” reads the statement. From this highly and professional competition, Sekamana was declared the overall cadet of the 17th LOAC Competition, the first time an officer cadet from an African country wins the contest.
