Kigali — The military is undertaking plans to boost the capacity of the Airforce, The New Times has learnt. The Rwanda Defense Forces (RDF) Chief of General Staff Gen. James Kabarebe, told The New Times on March 1 that the effort is aimed at... creating and sustaining a formidable Air force. "We are laying our own strategies and plans to form one of the best Airforces on the continent and we are optimistic that the efforts will be fruitful like other successes we have had in other military fields," he said at Village Urugwiro, on the sidelines of the Deputy Commander of the United States European Command (USECOM), General William E. 'Kip' Ward's courtesy call to President Paul Kagame. Gen. Kabarebe also stressed that apart from maintaining troop discipline and professionalism, there was need to procure more military hardware to enhance the Airforce's contribution to the RDF foreign peacekeeping missions.

"This is the kind of dependence that we want to stop. Our partners cannot help us in training of our peace keeping troops and at the same time airlift them," he said, clarifying that the country has the obligation to reduce the burden placed on the US Army and other contributing countries in Rwanda's foreign peace keeping efforts.

"And, the effort to service the strength of our Air Force will be one of the milestones," Kabarebe stressed.

Currently, the training of Rwandan Defense Forces for foreign missions is being conducted by American commandos among other foreign military experts.

For instance in the case of the Military Academy in Gako, Bugesera District of the Eastern Province, the RDF Peace Support Operations for Darfur-bound 14th Battalion is conducted by American troops.

After the peace keeping training, the United States provides the training kit and supplements the military expertise transfer with airlifting of RDF's peacekeeping forces to the troubled Darfur region of Sudan.

Somalia

Asked about the possibility of RDF deploying to the conflict-ridden Somalia, the Chief of General Staff said that the military was still making consultations over the matter.

He was, however, quick to add that the issue of training Somali troops to maintain peace in their motherland had been agreed upon.

Gen. Kabarebe's remarks come at a time when USECOM Deputy Commander, Gen. Ward lauded the RDF for its peacekeeping efforts.

Speaking shortly after meeting President Paul Kagame last week, the US General said he was pleased with Rwanda's contribution to stability on the continent.

The move to step up capacity of the Air Force comes amidst calls by a senior RDF officer to scale up vigilance in the area of logistics developments among the military personnel and the police force.

Speaking at the issuing of certificates to over 50 RDF and Police officers after completion of an expeditionary Peace Support Operation (PSO) logistics workshop last week, the Nyakinama Military Academy Commandant, Brigadier General Frank Rusagara challenged security officers to improve logistics management in their respective institutions as a core aspect for successful peace operations.