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Rwandan Defence Forces

Rwanda Defence Force
Ingabo z'u Rwanda
Founded 1962
Current form 1994
Service branches Army, Air Force, Reserve Force
Headquarters Post Box 23, Kigali
Leadership
President of Rwanda Paul Kagame
Minister of Defence Gen. James Kabarebe
Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Patrick Nyamvumba
Manpower
Available for
military service
2,625,917 males, age 16–49 (2010 est.),
2,608,110 females, age 16–49 (2010 est.)
Fit for
military service
1,685,066 males, age 16–49 (2010 est.),
1,749,580 females, age 16–49 (2010 est.)
Reaching military
age annually
(2010 est.)
Expenditures
Percent of GDP 2.9% (2006 est.)
Related articles
History Military history of Rwanda
Rwandan Civil War
First Congo War
Second Congo War
Six-Day War (2000)
Dongo conflict
2009 Eastern Congo offensive
Hutu militants
Rwandan Genocide (1994)
Impuzamugambi
Interahamwe
Rwandan Armed Forces
Refugee crisis
RDR (1995–1996)
1st and 2nd Congo War
ALiR (1996–2001)
FDLR (2000–present)

The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) (in Kinyarwanda: Ingabo z'u Rwanda) is the national army of Rwanda. The country's armed forces were originally known as the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), but following the victory of the Rwandan Patriotic Front in the country's civil war in 1994, it was renamed to the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), and later to its current name.

The RDF comprises:

In November 2002 Emmanuel Habyarimana was removed from his post as Minister of Defence, an action which government spokesperson Joseph Bideri attributed to his "extreme pro-Hutu" views.Marcel Gatsinzi became Minister of Defence (in office 2002-2010) in succession to Habyarimana.

After it conquered the country in July 1994 in the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide of April to July 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) decided to split into a political division (which retained the RPF name) and a military division, which would serve as the official army of the Rwandan state.

Defence spending continues to represent an important share of the national budget, largely due to continuing security problems along Rwanda's frontiers with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, and lingering concerns about Uganda's intentions towards its former ally. The Rwandan government launched an ambitious plan to demobilize thousands of soldiers, resulting in a standing military of 33,000 and another 2,000-strong paramilitary force - a decrease from 70,000 in just a decade.

During the First and Second Congo Wars of 1996-2003, the RPF committed wide-scale human-rights violations and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the United Nations Mapping Report.


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