Amidst recent unconstitutional take over of power by military through coup around African, Rwanda President and the Commander-in-Chief of Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), Paul Kagame, approved the retirement of 95 military generals and senior officers as well as 930 junior soldiers. Those affected were disclosed in a statement published on the Rwanda Defense Force’s official website on Wednesday. Local media reports that some of those retired had attained the retirement age of 65. Others are said to have been retired on the ground of misconduct.
However, top on the list of retirees is General James Kabarebe, the country’s former Minister of Defence and Chief of Defense Staff. Until his retirement, General Kabarebe served as the special advisor to the president on security. “The president has also approved the retirement of 83 senior officers, 06 junior officers and 86 senior NCOS, 678 end of contract and 160 medical discharges,” the statement partly read.
While the statement did not categorically state the reasons behind the retirement of over 600 military officers, there are however speculations that the announcement came amid recent military coups in Niger Republic and Gabon. The president had also recently addressed opinion leaders on the need to keep the country united. It could be recalled that the Ugandan president recently promoted a number of lieutenant colonels to the rank of colonels and brigade commanders.
President Kagame in one of his recent address said. “Our history has been an example of how destructive division can be. We have also seen that it is our unity that has led to our country’s transformation. We have people who lost their family members, others who have family members who are perpetrators, everyone has suffered the consequences of division. The only solution to this is unity. We cannot accept to return to the destructive practice of division. That would be self destruction.”
