Belgian defence chief seeks to enhance military ties

The visiting chief of defence of the Belgian army, Gen. Charles-Henri Delcour, Tuesday told reporters that his second visit to the country was meant to assess progress on military ties together with his counterparts so that new areas of focus can be explored.He said this yesterday after touring the Kigali Genocide memorial centre to pay tribute to victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Earlier, he had also visited Camp Kigali memorial site to pay tribute to ten Belgian paratroopers killed during the Genocide.Delcour last visited in September 2009. At the time, strengthening of bilateral military cooperation was on the agenda.“I am coming back again to visit the Chief of Defence and the Minister of Defence about the cooperation activities we maintain with Rwanda,” he said.“I will not go into details on military business, but it is good to speak face-to-face to understand the progress achieved, the assessment made by the Chief of Defence Staff on his current requirements and where he wants to focus,” he said.Delcour stressed that Rwanda-Belgium military ties are good.“It is a good cooperation, to begin with, because the Rwandan army is a well organized and very professional army, and disciplined. And they send some candidates to Belgium military academy and some officers to attend staff courses and I must say that they have a very good grounding”.At Gisozi, Gen. Delcour, told reporters that keeping the memory of the horrors of 1994 would possibly help prevent a reoccurrence. “The visit in this memorial, for the second time, is a very moving experience because you could not imagine that this could happen in humanity, and it happened,” he said.“I am very impressed by this system of memorial because it is probably going to be one of the cornerstones in explaining to the next generations what should not happen”.

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Belgian defence chief seeks to enhance military ties