Musanze on 20 April 2024

Every year, the Rwanda Defence Force Command and Staff College (RDFCSC) plans and organizes the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) Liberation War Study Tour for national students attending the Senior The Command and Staff Course (SCSC) features a study tour that enables students to examine different battles and analyze the operational difficulties that RPA commanders encountered during the Liberation War. The College views the RPA Liberation War Study Tour as a significant component of the course curriculum since it seeks to promote RDF traditional values and educate participants on campaign planning and execution.

As part of the Military History Module, the faculty and students of SCSC 12, along with college leadership, conducted a Five-day tour to study the RPA Liberation War and familiarize themselves with senior Allied officers.

RPA STUDY TOUR PHOTOS.

KAGITUMBA.

RYABEGA.

BUTARO.

CND.

GABIRO.

MUVUMBA.

KABOROGOTA.

KUMULINDI.

MOD.

MUSANZE.

NYABWISHONGWEZI.

ALLIED SENIOR OFFICERS FAMILIARIZATION TOUR PHOTOS.

Murambi Memorial Genocide.

Huye National Museum.

Nyanza Culture Trails.

Kandt House Museum.

Kigali Memorial Genocide.

CND.

Nyandungu Urban Welt Land Eco-Tourism Park.

The purpose of the tour was to educate local students and broaden the Allied Officers' understanding of recent Rwandan history, including the Genocide against the Tutsi. The tour aimed to provide insight into the planning and conduct of the RPA Liberation War, and to identify the key elements that led to victory against a stronger and internationally supported government force. By gaining this knowledge, officers could emulate and uphold the values of resilience, sacrifice, and patriotism that are cherished by the RDF.

The RPA Liberation War Study Tour 2024 objectives were:

1. Understand the evolution of the RPA Liberation War.
2. Understand the planning, conduct, and link of various campaigns, operations, and battles during the RPA liberation war.
3. Identify major challenges faced by the RPA leadership in their initial offensive, and assess how they were overcome in subsequent campaigns.
4. Assess how major operations/battles link to support the different campaigns.
5. Establish the relationship between the success/failure of military operations and the application/misapplication of Campaign Planning Concepts (CPC), Principles of war, and Functions in Combat various campaigns.
6. Understand the enduring tenets that led to RPA victory and FAR defeat.

The objectives of the Allied Students Study Tour were:

1. To be acquainted with Rwanda’s history which exhibits the machinations of Genocide as well as the tragedy that befell Rwanda in 1994.
2. To be acquainted with Rwandan Culture and Values.

The understanding of the RPA Liberation War helps student officers avoid pitfalls that were realized within the said war in their future planning and conduct of operations.

Interactive sessions were provided by a group of respondents who explained the initial stages of the RPA Liberation War that began on 1 October 1990 at KAGITUMBA. The students were able to ask questions and seek clarification about the RPA Liberation War. The discussions revolved around understanding the planning and conduct of operations and battles, identifying major challenges both sides (RPA and FAR) faced, and how they managed to overcome them. The students were privileged to meet with RDF leadership comprised of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen. MK MUBARAKH, Gen.(Rtd.) James KABAREBE Minister of State of Foreign Affairs in charge of Regional Cooperation, and Maj Gen. (Rtd.) Sam KAKA, CGP Evariste MURENZI to get a strategic brief about the Liberation War. Finally, the tour comprised a visit to the Conseil National de Développement “CND”, now Rwanda’s Parliament building, where several interviews with former RPA and FAR Senior Officers were conducted specifically on the campaign against the genocide, from 7 April to 17 July 1994.

The areas visited were KAGITUMBA, NYABWISHONGWEZI, RYABEGA, GABIRO, MUVUMBA, and KABOROGOTA in the Eastern Province; MULINDI, BUTARO, and MUSANZE, in the Northern Province; and the former CND (Parliament Building), MOD in KIGALI City.

The allied officers’ familiarization tour was conducted to Murambi Genocide Memorial, Huye National Museum and Nyanza Cultural Trails in the southern province, Kandt House Museum, Kigali Memorial Genocide, Museum for Campaign against Genocide, Nyandungu Urban Welt land Eco-Tourism Park.

THE END.