Officers and junior soldiers in the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) will, henceforth, wear their army insignia on the chest for combat uniforms, a highly placed source has confirmed to The New Times.

The change applies to the army fatigue for fieldwork in security management or on the battlefield, however, when it comes to the office uniform, the ranks will still be worn on the shoulders.

As observed, for officers who wore the ranks on both shoulders or for junior soldiers who wore a ranking patch in yellow or sky blue for the Air Force, on the right shoulder, they were all put in a military green color to be worn on the chest part of the uniform shirt.

It is a uniform similar to that of the British or United States Army.

According to some military analysts, wearing the army insignia in such a manner creates some form of protection for officers where it would be difficult to single out the army commander as a specific target.

Rank is an important symbol in the military because it is what classifies an officer or a non-commissioned officer, and gives them the authority to perform military services.

Additional details on the reason behind the changes were not revealed by press time.